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A Monthly of 24 pages. 
laDITED BY ELIZABETH P. PEABODT. 



No. 1. — MAY, 1873. 
— ♦ — 

Subscriptions of $1.00 each for the rest of the year may be made at E. Steiger's, 
22 and 24 Frankfort Street, New York ; Lee & Shepard's, 149 Washington Street, Boston ; 
James R. Osgood & Co.'s, 124 Tremont Street, Boston ; or sent directly to the Editor, at 
19 Follen Street, Cambridge, Mass. All communications to be addressed to the Editor, 
who is, at present. Proprietor also. 



OUR REASON FOR BEING. 

There seems to be a call for a monthly periodical whose ob- 
ject shall be to speak of the Reform of Earliest Education, known 
as Froebel's Kindergarten. 

In 1858, the first article upon the subject appeared in the 
" Christian Examiner ; " which reviewed the Baroness Maren- 
holtz-Bulow's work for the propagation of the system of her re- 
vered master, who died in 1852. This was followed by a few 
rather presumptuous attempts at practical Kindergartens, one of 
which was my own, in Boston. Those unconsidered experiments 
were generally disappointing ; for, in fact, they were only the old 
primary school, ameliorated by a mixture of infant school plays ; 
and, in the best cases, by object-teaching according to the plan 
of Pestalozzi, as taught at the Training School of Oswego, New 
York State. Even this mixture, however, interested the public ; 
and in answer to many letters written to me, inquiring into the 
subject, I wrote an article in the "Atlantic Monthly" of 1862, 
which was soon after followed by a book, describing the method 
pursued by myself in what I called a Kindergarten, and to which 
I appended some letters written by my sister, Mrs. Mann, on the 
moral culture of infancy, describing a school of her own, kept 
for many years. 

But seven years of experience with my so-called Kindergarten, 
though it had a pecuniary success and a very considerable popu- 
larity, — stimulating to other attempts, — convinced me that we 

1 



2 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

were not practising Froebel's Fine Art, inasmuch as the quiet, 
certain, unexcited growth of self-activity into artistic self-relying 
ability which he promised, did not come of our efforts ; but there 
was, on the contrary, precocious knowledge, and the consequent 
morbid intellectual excitement, quite out of harmonious relation 
with moral and aesthetic growth. I therefore went to Europe in 
1867, mainly for the purpose of visiting the Kindergartens estab- 
lished by Froebel himself, and kept by the pupils he had himself 
trained for the purpose ; and then I learned that I had missed of 
every thing in Froebel's system excepting the genial, moral, and 
religious characteristics of his discipline, which are the legitimate 
results of Christ's idea of infancy, and its relations to God and 
man. 

The artistic and productive processes by which Froebel pro- 
poses to develop the understanding of the child, I learned to 
appreciate for the first time, when I saw the children at play 
and at work under the wise direction of the widow of Froebel 
at Hamburg, and Madame Marquart at Dresden. 

Of course I returned to America to throw up my so-called 
Kindergarten as an ignorant and abortive attempt, and to re- 
pudiate my " Kindergarten Guide," as I had with presumptuous 
ignorance denominated it; replacing it with a second edition, 
whose preface explained the errors of the first ; and changed 
fifty of its pages for new ones, in accordance with what I had 
learned. 

On my return, I found a lady and her daughter, who had for- 
merly lived in America, but on the death of the husband and 
father had returned to Europe for the daughter's education ; and 
now, fresh from the Baroness Marenholtz-Bulow's Normal Insti- 
tute in Berlin, were about establishing themselves in Boston, 
for the express purpose of teaching Froebel's Art and Science, 
pure and simple, by means of a Kindergarten, to which they 
were willing to attach a Normal class for training teachers. 

During the four years in which, amid many discouragements, 
these ladies have worked earnestly, and with no inconsiderable 
success, in these two departments of effort, the interest in the 
system has become national. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 3 

Among the German population there have been many of their 
primary schools in which object-lessons have long been given 
with great accuracy, that have adopted Froebel's movement 
plays, and even many of his occupations ; though few, if any of 
them, are simple Kindergartens, confined to the development of 
children between three and seven years of age by mere play and 
work. 

Four classes of teachers have been trained by Mrs. Kriege 
and daughter for the too short period of five months each, who 
made attempts at Kindergartens with more or less success in 
various places ; but generally contending with the disadvantage 
of insufficient means, and in places that did not affi^rd the very 
desirable appurtenance of a garden. They have also suffered 
the still greater disadvantage of a general want of understand- 
ing on the part of the parents concerning the aims of Froebel, 
which has curtailed the Kindergartn^ r's freedom to cai'ry out the 
idea uninterruptedly. Very frequently, in order for the teacher 
to have sufficient pupils to keep up the Kindergarten, she has 
been obliged to mix up the two incompatible things, Froebel's 
institution for forming the understanding, with a very different 
thing, — namely, a school for {reforming the understanding, which 
is a subsequent process. 

Mrs. Kriege and daughter returned to Germany last year for 
rest, and left the Kindergarten and Normal training in the 
hands of their ablest pupil, who has carried them both on during 
the winter, at 98 Chestnut Street, Boston, to the great satisfac- 
tion of the parents of the children and of the ladies who have 
studied with her. 

One single Kindergarten has been attempted in the public 
school system of Boston, which is not a failure, though it lacks 
some conditions indispensable to a perfect success. 

In New York city, Miss Haines, the eminent educator of 
young ladies, at 10 Gramercy Park, has had during the past 
winter a long-experienced and skilful German lady, long resi- 
dent in England, to keep a Kindergarten in her school ; and this 
lady has added thereto instruction to a small class of mothers in 
Froebel's Nursery Art. ' She has also had for a pupil a lady of 



4 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

St. Louis, already highly cultivated for general education, whom 
she has prepared for teaching a class of the St. Louis Normal 
School in the Kindergarten art, in connection with a practical 
attempt at a model Kindergarten there ; Mr. Harris, the able 
superintendent, having, after some years of reflection upon the 
subject, decided to make Kindergarten the first stage of the pub- 
lic education of St. Louis. 

Another of the intelligent superintendents of "Western edu- 
cation, Mr. A. S. Kissel, of Iowa, did, last fall, establish a Ger- 
man lady (to select whom he went on purpose to Europe, after 
twelve years' study of the subject himself) as the principal of a 
model Kindergarten, with a training class of teachers attached, 
at the Normal School of Des Moines. But even these two 
salient attempts are not so significant of the future of this re- 
form as the general interest evinced by individuals of every 
section of the country, who.write to me continually, asking for 
information of the mode of getting up Kindergax'ten, of the pos- 
sibility of obtaining teachers, &c. 

In 1870 I was invited by the Society of Superintendents 
and Principals to go to Chicago and address them upon " Gen- 
uine Kindergarten versus Ignorant Attempts at it ; " and did 
so, repeating my discourse at the Teachers' Convention in 
Watertown, Wisconsin ; and in private parlors at Milwaukee, 
Cleveland, and some other Western towns, calling forth a great 
expression of interest from teachers ; and, in consequence of 
this, I was requested by General Eaton to communicate a paper 
on Kindergai'ten Culture for his Report of the year (1870). 

*But a practical difficulty of making the Kindergarten the first 
grade of the public school system, in several States, has pre- 
sented itself in the form of a question whether the public 
money could be lawfully used for the education of children so 
young as Froebel contemplated ; and it is difficult, on that 
account, in part, especially in our large cities, to gain the 
attention of the school committees to the special arguments tor 
introducing the Kindergarten. It has become a serious question, 
therefore, with me and those who feel as I do upon this subjecl.,ft=*i 
What is the best method to pursue ? And, at length, it hM 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. ^ 

seemed to some of us that the hettef way is to turn, for the 
present, from school committees to parents, since the Kindergarten 
has certainly the most obviously vital relation with the Home ; 
its pupils being just from the mother's nursery, and, though need- 
ing intellectual as well as moral and religious training, not yet 
at all fit for even the literature of the primer and spelling-book. 
Before they are to be made free to the tree of knowledge, with 
its fruits of evil as well as good, they should be kept in the Eden 
of spontaneous though regulated doing, where they can feed 
on the tree of Life in Love ; in other words, learning to trust 
and hope and love God and the brother, as the safe preparation 
for knowing good from evil. 

In pursuance of this idea, the Kindergarten Association of 
Boston, at their meeting of March, unanimously voted to 
authorize me to address to Fathers and Mothers of our country 
a General Letter, proposing the formation, in neighborhoods, of 
inexpensive unions of parents, who should meet as often, cer- 
tainly, as once a month, to make themselves acquainted with the 
doctrine of Froebel's reform of infant education, by reading 
and conversation with one another. And when conversing upon 
the books recommended to be read and commented upon at 
these Unions, the idea was suggested of a monthly periodical, 
which should, among other obvious uses it will serve, furnish 
topics for discussions at these meetings. It has been my obser- 
vation and experience, that in every case where the Kinder- 
garten principles and processes have been well explained to 
pax'ents, a practical movement has followed to have a Kinder- 
garten at their own expense. Mothers are the first to appve- 
ciate a science and art originally derived by the discoverer from 
discourse with mothers, which he knew how to systematize and 
perfect. A first-class publisher in Boston has also at this mo- 
ment proposed to publish the twenty-four lectures I have been 
delivering upon the Art of Kindergartning, in Boston, this 
winter, but which are not quite prepared to go to the press. 

I have concluded, therefore, to make the experiment of at 
least one issue of this " Messenger ; " and, if a sufiicient number 
c'" persons respond to pay for continuing it the rest of the year, I 

1* 



6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

shall do so, and then consider the probabilities of a perennial 
patronage. This year I will make myself responsible for having 
all the matter, the genuine doctrine of Froebel, or at least 
what is consistent therewith; and this will not exclude the ques- 
tioning of doubters, which will be welcomed as occasions for 
explanation. There is already scattei'ed in newspapers and 
periodicals of the last five years much matter from able pens, 
which it is desirable to gather into one publication. And there 
is a good deal of historical matter, concerning the Kindergarten 
in Europe and America, which is full of instruction. I have 
reason to believe that I shall be aided by many excellent writers 
in our midst and from abroad ; and, in the course of time, the 
substance of my lectures, which 1 have been urged by many to 
print, will come to the light, in a form not so heavy as would be 
the volume of four or five hundred pages, — which they would 
make. I shall have a department of at least eight pages in every 
inumber devoted to the Nursery ; and in this I shall make 
ample extracts from Froebel's Mother-book, — the publication 
of which, with the original music and plates, must necessarily be 
delayed for a time, in order that a general demand may stimu- 
late publishers to the great expense of getting it up adequately. 

Elizabeth P. Peabodt. 

Cambridge, Mass. 



OUR HOPES. 



We have improvised this first number of our " Kindergarten 
Messenger," with special reference to the Parents' Unions that it 
has been proposed should be formed in every neighborhood in 
the land, for the purpose of studying at their monthly meetings 
the Art and Science of Froebel's Nursery and Kindergarten. 
It is our first hope that every parent and lover of children, who 
hears of these Unions, should make it a personal object to form 
one. They may be entirely inexpensive ; or there may be an 
entrance fee of twenty-five cents, which will afford all the n je;^ 
needed to pay the postage of a letter to General Eaton, o tl. • 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. ^ 

National Bureau of Education at Washington, asking for ,the 
Circular of Information on Kindergarten, published in July, 
1872, for free distribution, — a pamphlet containing a statement 
of the foundation in nature for Froebel's System, by the Baron- 
ess Marenholtz-Bulow, the perusal and discussion of which may 
be the first thing done at the union meetings. 

Our second hope is, that the friends of this reform of early 
education will interest themselves to get subscribers for this 
" Kindergarten Messenger," which we commence on our own 
risk, and can only continue if we have subscribers enough' to 
pay the costs of publication. Four or five hundred will do so 
much this year. And another year, if we have more subscribers, 
we may be able to continue and improve it. 

A thii'd hope that we have, is, that among all the munificent 
Public Benefactors, who make endowments to private and public 
institutions for education, there may be found some wise man or 
woman, who will put in trust some thousands of dollars, to make 
a few model Kindergartens here and there; — for instance, at 
Boston ; New 'York ; Washington, D.C. ; Richmond, Va. ; 
Evanston, 111.; and Worthington, Ohio, — to which may be at- 
tached colleges for the education of young women in this Fine 
Art and Science. Hundreds of thousands, nay, millions of 
dollars, are given every year to endow the higher institutions of 
education. Is it unreasonable to hope for tens of thousands for 
the hitherto neglected earliest stage of education, which gives 
the vital elements even to the University, and for want of which 
all schools and universities constantly disappoint us ? 



ORIGIN OF KINDERGARTEN. 

Extract from Miss Peabody's Twentieth Lecture. 
Froebel's method is the application of all the laws of vital 
growth, the revelation of which grew upon himself from his own 
bitter experience of deprivation, seen later in comparison with 
its opposite, the aid of others' thoughtful love, who planted 
and developed its germ. 

2 



8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

No good, no new idea, no growth, mental, moral, or spiritual, 
ever comes to tlie human race, or to any individual of it, except 
through intentional, thoughtful human love. Adult humanity 
is the mediator between the extreme opposites of the spiritual 
universe. On the one side is the new-born infant soul, suscepti- 
ble of immeasurable pain and pleasure, projected or borne on an 
involuntary and wholly ignorant impulse into a universe whose 
reaction it must inevitably suffer or enjoy intensely; and, on 
the other side, is the Supreme Being, who created both the uni- 
verse to be zmconsciously exponent of his wisdom, love, and 
power, and the infant soul, capable of coming into conscious 
communion with himself, by loving and knowing visible persons, 
until its thinking shall become the Wisdom, its feeling the Love, 
and its willing the Power, of the ineffable Unseen {Persona per- 
sonarum). 

The first form of the mediation of adult humanity is mother- 
hood, as Froebel learned by being himself unhappily orphaned of 
his mother before his remembrance. He had a father, but he 
was the laborious pastor of several parishes ; he had loving 
brothers, but they were seldom at home from boarding-school ; 
and he was left to a servant to be cared for, who was the maid 
of all work, with as little time as ability to do more for the child 
than keep him from starvation, nakedness, and bodily accidents. 
The parsonage was under the shadow of the church, and into it 
no. ray of sunshine ever came. He was not allowed to play out 
of doors lest he should get lost or hurt ; and the greatest amuse- 
ment he remembered was watching from the windows some 
workmen who were repairing the church ; and when at last he 
became an educator he remembered how he longed to do likewise, 
which led him to provide simple blocks for children's playing at 
building, which he was sure was one of the earliest human spon- 
taneities. Need I say that he was unhappy, with no prepared 
food adequate to supply the infinite wants of his heart ? In vain 
nature was around him ; for nobody taught him to analyr-.e the 
great symbol, name its several parts, and classify its objects. To 
him it was chaos. Unless humanity becomes her iiiterpiJetegj, 
Nature does not educate the human mind. It was his holieay, 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. p 

when his brothers occasionally came home from boarding-school, 
for they loved and played with him, and were objects for his 
love, which was more important still. When he was four years 
old, his father married a second wife ; and at first the merely 
instinctive — certainly not morally or religiously cultivated — 
woman caressed and petted her husband's little one, awalsening 
infinite hopes and love for her in his little heart. He remem- 
bered when he became an educator his unbounded gratitude and 
desire to please her, and clearly saw how he might have been 
moulded in her heart during that period of his life while he was 
yet personally irresponsible. 

But this new mother was a short-lived joy ; for as soon as she 
had a child of her own, instead of making it a new joy and 
means of moral development for Friedrich, as can always be 
done when a baby comes into a family of children from the 
infinite unknown, claiming love and tenderness ; her selfish pas- 
sion for her own made her meanly jealous of her husband's child, 
and she repelled him ; left ofi", as he pathetically says, calling 
him tliou (which is an endearing epithet in German), and speak- 
ing to him as lie (er), which is an especially rough and contempt- 
uous idiom. 

What wonder that he grew peevish and cross in his disap- 
pointment and hopeless desolation ! The suffering of the conse- 
quent naughtiness was his own ; the sin was the wicked and 
selfish stepmother's. Later, through the redeeming love of God, 
the remembrance of this misery and its evil fruits became his 
power to bless mankind ; suggesting to him, as a first principle 
of education, to call out in children gratitude and truth by 
encouraging and gratifying their lovely desire to please, which 
may be kept pure from selfishness, by giving it opportunities for 
kindnesses and beneficent uses. 

In his childish wretchedness he became so troublesome at 
home, that, to keep him out of his stepmother's way, his father 
would take him with him when he made his parochial calls ; 
but this was done as a punishment, not for his recreation ; and 
a-^ the pastor's work among his parishioners, according to Froe- 
bel , recollection, seemed principally to be the settling of domes- 



lO KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

tic quarrels, the whole world seemed to be discordant and " out of 
ioint " to the sensitive child, in whose own moral life " all the 
sweet bells were jangled" by the disappointment of his affec- 
tions and the bewilderment of his will. To the grown-up, 
probably the good pastor ministered Christian counsel ; taught 
the ethics of love ; how they might forbear with one another's 
faults ; confess and repent of their own ; spoke of the forgive- 
ness of God, and brotherly sympathy of Christ ; but his own 
child's confidence he did not win, nor inquire into his trials, and 
far less divine how his vain efforts to please his stepmother, and 
win back the kindness she had shown him at first, had puzzled 
and distressed his conscience. The sweetest children are not 
the most self-assertive. It is so apt to be decided, especiall^y by 
men, when there is a difficulty between the grown-up and a child, 
that the child is in the wrong ! The woman's selfish jealousy 
for her own child was of course unimaginable to the innocent 
mind of the simple little boy, with that vision of the Father's 
face in liis soul which Christ warned the grown-up never to 
offend. 

But I said he had brothers who loved him ; and to the older 
one, when he came home in a vacation, he opened his heart, 
not asking him to explain the discoi'dances of his own life ; for 
a child when he is unhappy never does this ; he flies from reflec- 
tion on his inward being as much as possible, and fixes his atten- 
tion upon the world into which he was projected at birth, but 
which is likely to look bright or dark according to his own state 
of mind, , 

He asked his brother the strangest questions : one was, " Why 
God did not make the world all men or all women, so that there 
might not be so much quarrelling and trouble ? " The brother 
was prompted by the instinct of his love to a not unwise course. 
To divert the child from the problem of social evil, which per- 
haps was as insoluble to himself as to the little Friedrich, he 
undertook to teach him botany according to the natural method ; 
showing him how contrasted imperfects conspire to produce per- 
fect beauty, thus opening his infant understanding into conver- 
sation with God, by means of his works. The charm of the 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. II 

objects themselves, which became the subjects of his study, was 
nothing in comparison with the greater charm of catching the 
light of law and order. Though it made the painful problem 
none the less importunate, that God should not have made men 
and women inevitably conspire, like the different parts of the 
vegetable world, to produce the happiness and goodness which 
ai'e, in human life, what harmony and beauty are in plant life ; 
yet an echo was waked that never slept again, and may be heard 
by us all in the song of the announcing angels. 

The name Kindergarten, that he gave to that stage of human 
education which he came at last to think the rnost important 
period, shows what a controlling influence upon his imagination 
was always exerted by that department of nature which first 
became intelligible to him as a melodious word of God, and 
which a teaching like his brother's would make so to all chil- 
dren ; for they are always attracted by flowers, whose symbolism 
is so easily made patent by a word addressed to their fancy. In 
this department of nature, from which few can be utterly shut 
off, even in our artificial life, Froebel, as a child, saw the ex- 
ponents of the law which obtains in all unities, from that of the 
being of God himself to the minutest organism in the universe : 
. the organizing law of nature and art, which it is the secret of 
human life to know and obey, and makes man on earth the 
image of God in heaven, whether as an infant " he rides on all 
men's shoulders, and makes his mother or whoever fills her place 
his most obedient slave," or, as a man, he kings it as hero, artist, 
philosopher, or saint. 



Under this heading, we shall give, in every number of our " Messenger," items respect- 
ing the status and progress of Kindergarten in this country and in Europe. 



As long as Froebel lived, he had personal relation with every 
Kindergarten and trained the teachers practically, by himself 
taking the lead in the instruction. After his death, in 1852, the 

2* 



12 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

teachers associated to keep a training scliool for their assistants, 
which occupied twelve hours in the week. But after the inspiring 
and attractive presence of the Master was withdrawn, few ladies 
of the right degree of culture and class of mind entered upon the 
work; and when I went to Europe, in 1867, I found that Frau 
Froebel, Frau Marquart, and others of his ablest pupils, were 
feeling that it was necessary that the subject of a Normal College 
should be brought before the public with some emphasis, or the 
supply of Kindergartners would fail. 

Hence the movement in the Congress of Philosophers at 
Prao'ue, in 1868, to which I alluded in my address to the School 
Committee of Boston, early in 1869, when the general interest 
was first awakened in this country. I will give an extract 
from that address published in '' Massachusetts Teacher," July, 
1870 : — 

" When it is the question to diffuse, throughout the United 
States, the educational institutions which the governments of the 
Northern section have established in their States, we cannot but 
pause to ask vrhether all has been gained by our Northern pub- 
lic schools, which it is desirable to spread over the Southern 
section ; whether it may not be possible to improve as well as 
diffuse ; and, in the reconstructed States, avoid certain mistakes 
the Northern section has fallen into. For it is certain that a 
mere sharpening of the wits, and opening on the mind of the 
boundlessness of human opportunity for producing material 
wealth, is not the only desideratum. As we build the intellect 
high with knowledge, we should sink deep in the heart the 
moral foundations of character, or our apparent growth will 
involve the principles of national decay. 

'' In defining education as the acquisition of knowledge, which 
is but an incident of it, we have indeed only followed the ex- 
ample set by the Old World ; and have hoped that by offering 
this knowledge to all, instead of sequestrating it to certain 
classes, we have done all that is possible. But it is not so ; and 
it behooves us to observe that in Europe the most enlightened 
and learned nation does not rest content with its learning, but 
is inquiring further, as may be gathered from the following 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 



13 



manifesto, published in the spring of 1869, in a German news- 
paper : — 

" ' The Congress of Philosophers, which assembled last year/ 
1868, for the first time at Prague, and which will conveoe this 
year, from the 26th of September to the 2d of October, at 
Frankfort-on-the-Main, does not consider its task to be merely 
the discussion of abstract philosophical truths ; but it means to 
consider all questions of reform in the organization of human 
society according to reasonable principles, — that is to say, 
according to generally approved philosophic truths. The end 
of true Philosophy is not speculative play, a mere luxuriating 
in abstract thoughts ; nor even mental gymnastics, as many 
suppose it to be ; but a universal comprehension of the intel- 
lectual as well as general conditions of human life; the study 
of the laws of human society, and their development according to 
divine laws, of a free unfolding and advance of human life and 
society. This true task of Philosophy makes it the fundamental 
science, above all other sciences, and the Educator of humanity. 
If this import and position of Philosophy is here and there not 
rightly understood, it is mainly the fault of the materialistic 
special Scientists, who close up the horizon of universal science 
and life to the mind ; and hedge it in on the right and left, while 
they plod on in their narrow paths. True Philosophy, as an 
Educator, is ever active to clear away the barriers that stand 
in the way of a clear, unbiassed comprehension of science and 
life in their relations and integrity. Philosophy raises the 
banner not of any one special science, but of human culture ; 
and however regarded by the materialists of the day as a foolish 
pursuit, it is the only basis of all rightful national education, — 
nothing less tlian which has been the aim of all the eminent edu- 
cators of our time, such as Commenius, Pestalozzi, Diesterweg, 
Froebel. So far as the General Convention of German teachers 
and the Assembly of Austrian teachers build on the foundations 
these men have laid, they work for the same ends as the Phi- 
losophers' Congress, from which they are only distinguished in 
this, that they have special educational aims ; while the Phi- 
losophers' Congress takes into consideration all questions relating 



H 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 



to human life and culture, all questions of interest to cultivated 
persons and society at large. 

" ' Therefore the officers have sent a delegate to the Teachers' 
Convention at Berlin, asking them to take part in the Congress 
which is to assemble at Frankfort-on-the-Main ; to aid, by word 
and wi'iting, in solving the educational problems of the present 
time, the most prominent of which are the completing and 
remodelling of the public schools, especially the establishing and 
reorganizing of Kindergartens, in accordance with the spirit 
of Froebel. One problem to be solved is the establishing of a 
philosophical Normal School, for the training of educators and 
teachers, by which not only a remodelling and improvement of 
the primary, but also of the high schools shall be attained. 
Finally, they will ask for an improvement in female education, 
in accordance with the demands of the present time, and the 
vocation of the female sex. 

" ' As these points are felt to be of importance by every think- 
ing educator, it is believed that all the teachers will meet, with 
confidence and good-will, a convention of thinking friends of 
humanity, to devise means for its welfare. Such a convention 
the Philosophers' Congress seems to be.' 

" In answer to this was issued, by the permanent business com- 
mittee of the teachers' convention at Berlin, the following call : — 

" ' The thought which animates our present time is the refor- 
mation of social conditions on the bases of adequate political and 
social legislation ; and no demand is more pressing than the re- 
form of public education, in accordance with these aims. What- 
ever excellence our public school system, as a means of instruc- 
tion, may have attained, the general education which it gives 
does not come near to fulfilling the demands of our time ; he- 
cause it is not adequate to give that Jirm moral basis to every 
member of the community, without which a great and strong 
nationality, truly humane general conditions of society, are im- 
possible. The new era that we approach needs better men ; 
and these can only be expected to come by a truer method of 
education. 

" ' In the beginning of our century, education needed a new 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 15 

impulse ; and it was given by Pestalozzi and Fichte, who broke 
the road for the national education of Germany. But the ques- 
tion, what is the true humane mode of education, applicable to 
all men everywhere, comes up anew, and asks for the right 
means to fulfil its mission. 

'"Friedrich Froebel, the great educational reformer of our 
era, in his system of education, promises these means. But, as 
yet, his method has been only partly and inadequately carried 
out in the widely multiplying Kindergartens. It asks for a thor- 
ough investigation, on the part of scientific men, of the princi 
pies on which it is based ; and if its claims prove to be well 
founded, it should be recommended to all governments and com- 
munities, and its adoption decreed. In view of the gx-eat impor- 
tance of this question, an educational committee, which counts 
eminent scientific men among its members, was formed last year 
in Berlin, during the teachers' convention, for the purpose of 
taking the matter into consideration ; and they are invited to 
attend the Philosophers' Congress as members, taking active part 
in it, discussing the general educational questions, and devising 
means to establish a central normal school for the education 
of male and female teachers, who may meet all the demands of 
our time in all directions ; and an address to the government 
and school authorities of Germany, for the reform of the nor- 
mal schools, will be submitted for discussion.' 

(Signed by the business committee.) 

Bertha von Marenholz-Bulow, Berlin. 
J. H. Fichte, Prof, of Philosophy, Stuttgard, 
T. Gorgon, K. K. Evang, School Director, Prague. 
Dr. W. Lange, School Director, Hamhurg. 
Freiherr von Leonharde, Prof, of Phil., Prague. 
I. Sanz del Rio, Prof. Hist, and Phil., Madrid. 
T. H. SoHLiEFHAKi, Pvof. at Heidelberg. 
G. TiLBEGHiEN, Prof. Phil., Brussells. 

" We have given these two articles in full, because we cannot 
better express the wants of our own country and time. And we 
would call attention to a fact most uncommon in Germany ; viz., 
that a ivommi heads the names on this business committee. This 



l6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

lady, the free apostle as well as disciple of Froebel, has, since 
the death of her friend and master, succeeded in getting removed 
the injunction against Kindergartens, once laid in Prussia by rea- 
son of a prejudice against a relative of his name vs^ho was a 
political agitator ; and since then she has spread Kindergartens 
not only into Germany, but into Belgium, France, Switzerland, 
and Italy ; and, several years since, founded a normal school for 
Kindergarten teachers in Berlin, and an association to support 
it, where she has given her services gratuitously. She was 
asked to lecture and explain four afternoons in the week, at the 
Congress at Frankfort; and with such effect, that Professor 
von Fichte, in his Report, gives to Froebel's method the praise 
of being the most advanced word on the subject of human 
education. 

" This may surprise those who do not understand — and many 
do not seem to take the idea — that the child's play, which is the 
instrumentality Froebel uses, is organized by the superintending 
intelligence of the Kindergartner to develop the intellect iu the 
order of external nature, as well as keep the he;irt in innocence, 
and train the will to vindicate its origin in the First Cause. (For 
human will is not an essentially lawless force, though while it is 
ignorant of nature's laws of order, it must needs produce disorder, 
in its blind attempts to realize itself. It is essentially the prin- 
ciple oi order, inasmuch as it "lives, moves, and has its being in 
God." Its complete development is an art which is upon every 
plane of activity the human image of God's creativeness ; where- 
fore every child should be treated as an embryo artist.) 

" The fine eye of Froebel, watching the infant man in the arms 
of its mother (as it is assisted, by the caressings of her instinc- 
tive love, to take possession of its organs of sense and its limbs), 
detected that it is the divine method of education to awaken and 
vivify the spirit laid to sleep in nature at birth, by a genial call- 
ing forth of the inward powers upon the lines of eternal latv as 
displayed in the forms of nature first individualized and then 
combining into ever more comprehensive unities of life. He 
made it the work of his long lifetime to devise what should be 
a series of delightful plays for the growing child, none the less 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 



17 



delightful because by being orderly they serve the highest intel- 
lectual uses, and make not only material but moral order habitual, 
and religious worship experimental before the age of abstraction 
begins. 

" Symmetry of form is for the eye what rhythm is for the ear ; 
and quite as manifestly develops the intellect, leading out the 
powers of perception lovingly to examine, and in the end indi- 
vidualize each separate thing that goes to form use and beauty. 
It would take a whole course of lectures, analyzing the human 
being on the one side, and external nature on the other, to do 
justice to Froebel's method in detail. And yet to appreciate the 
detail can alone open up the mind into the whole scope of his 
philosophy, and sound its depths, showing that the Father of all 
educates his children by displaying himself in analysis, as it were, 
in the beauteous forms of things, which are the words of his 
conversation with them. It is true no solitary soul of man 
could understand this august symbol of nature without the 
human interpreter. But the human interpreter is ever at hand. 
No human being is isolated, or can be solitary ; necessarily every 
child is in the care of adults, whose happiness as well as duty 
it is (whether they know it or not) to see to it that the child is 
not left to a chaos of chance impressions, which is painful as 
well as bewildering or paralyzing ; but that his mind be educated 
by order into order. Activity is spontaneous in children, but 
orderly activity needs the direction of others. Nor is there any 
weakness to be feared from a judicious care, which is not mere 
fondness and indulgence, as some persons fear. Because a child 
is dependent on others to learn to walk, he does not forever 
need help to walk ; and so no one need fear that because a child 
needs help to learn to think in order, and with delight, his spon- 
taneity of independent thought will be superseded ! In both 
cases, what the adult does, is to give the child faith in his own 
powers, and joy in their exercise. In both cases this is done by 
giving him hut one or two steps to take at first, by cheering him 
on with sympathy, and throwing the arms of love about him to 
save him from discouraging falls. This faith in himself is always 
necessary, as every mother knows, in order to induce the little 



1 8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

child to say to the mountain of its body, ' Be removed and set 
down in another place,' which is a feat that proves the causal 
power within the child to be more than a match for the gravita- 
tion of the earth. And, only by help of human sympathy, the 
growth of his bodily and mental powers is accompanied by happy 
heart-experience, rounding out his life into human fulness, such 
as has no analogy in the narrow life of lower animals ; in the 
chicken, for instance, which runs about of itself as soon as it is 
out of its shell. The chicken, and every low form of life, is 
created with a certain knowledge called instinct, which enables it 
to fill its little sphere from the beginning perfectly ; but the 
human being, at birth the most helpless of animated creatures, 
and knowing nothing, has, by reason of its infinite dependencies 
on its fellow-creatures, a pledge of an immortality of loving 
communion with them, which is boundless over-payment for in- 
fantile dependence, though the dependence puts every one at the 
mercy of others for the whole period of infancy, and risks his 
making moral mistakes, which may cause suffering for 'the for- 
ever of this world.' It is well to look this stern fact in the face, 
since nothing else can so stimulate every generous mind to seek 
the secret of true education, and act accordingly toward the 
coming generation. 

" The human being is a strictly immense force of will under- 
lying a sensibility or heart, with commensurate susceptibilities 
of pain and capacities of enjoyment. This will, which has been 
acutely defined, power to alter,* is never dormant except by reason 
of disease ; and solicits guidance by its first aimless manifesta- 
tions of tearing up and knocking down ; but which easily can be 
led, in its very first play, to construct symmetrically, and "pro- 
duce effects delightful if not henejicial to itself and others. In 
doing so, the mind grows, and resolves the chaos around it into 
order and beauty ; for ' knowledge,' by such employment of the 
active powers, ' entereth,' as well at least as by ' suffering,' and 
I think a great deal better. 

" It is absolutely a new method of what is called Education to 

* Freedom of Mind in Willing. By Rowland G. Hazard. New York : 
D. Appleton & Co. London, 16 Little Britain, 1864. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 



19 



begin with organizing play ; that is, with employing the forces 
of the child from the first in successful production of effect. 
The idea has hitherto been, that it is necessary to paralyze play 
in order to produce an attentive mind. But the child is always 
attending to what it is playing with ; and Froebel's plan is to go 
to the child where he is, and help this play so that it shall be 
successful in its aim, and thus lead to a profitable examination 
of the playthings ; which will be so selected and manipulated by 
the teacher as to produce combinations which in their turn shall so 
please the child's fancy that his mind may be attracted to analyze 
them, and realize the laws of their organization. 

" What they make must therefore be pleasing in itself to the 
childish mind, as expressing some form either of life or of beauty 
which is within its own compass of fancy ; and it is a great means 
of development to produce a regular series of beautiful forms, 
for which all Froebel's occupations provide. In order that the 
child may act from within outwards as a habit, he entirely for- 
bids patterns and copying ; but the educator suggests, step by 
step, what the child should do ; who, therefore, has to act from 
his own thought, if it be a suggested thought, and soon he will 
act from original thought. If the educator is careful to let him 
proceed strictly according to the law of combining opposites, and 
to miss no connections, using as elemental forms the simplest : 
first the ball ; then the cube ; then the cylinder, which com- 
bines these two ; then the cube divided into smaller cubes, and 
sometimes into oblongs; then their embodied surfaces; and 
these divided into triangles, right-angled, isosceles, scalene, 
equilateral ; then the lines of the edges embodied in sticks, then 
the points also embodied ; then circles, and parts of circles, em- 
bodied in rings and arcs, leading the child with all these various 
materials, also with paper folded and cut, to make many series 
of relative forms, — it is wonderful and beautiful to see how 
entirely the mind is interested, and how clearly developed ; what 
exquisite manipulation is produced ; what lOve of order and 
beauty ; what neatness ; what appreciation of material ; what 
self-respect without self-conceit ; what industry ; how invention 
is stimulated ; and what solid foundation is given for knowledge, 



20 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER, 

by the habit of comparing, measuring, and last, not least, num- 
bering; occasionally analyzing the work done, which children 
like to do, and which often leads them to spontaneous repetitions, 
that perfect their manipulation. Between the years of three and 
seven (the Kindergarten age, according to the judgment of Froe- 
bel), children may become veritable little artists, and while the 
brain is never strained to any abstract thought, concrete scientists 
too, — geometricians and arithmeticians; for they have thor- 
oughly learnt the virtue of conditions and laws, — and thus are 
put into first-rate order to learn the arbitrary signs of things, 
without being made the fools of words ; and to analyze material 
objects in so profound a way as to see God beyond the phe- 
nomena of nature. 

" For, in cutting, for instance, single squares of paper into a 
thousand different forms, which are all found to be perfectly 
symmetrical, and of wondrous beauty, if, and only if, the child 
has complied, in every instance, with certain conditions of fold- 
ing the paper, he learns that the immaterial is of vastly more 
importance than the material factor of the ' thing of beauty ' 
that he has himself made ; and hence when he shall see ' a thing 
of beauty ' in nature, he will easily recognize, on the bare sug- 
gestion of the educator, the immaterial factor, of whose creative 
thoughts it is the exponent. And so Nature, instead of being 
an opaque veil, shutting out the creative intelligence, becomes 
simply God's expression of himself to his apprehending child. 
Is not this the true method of educating the image of God into 
a reverent consciousness of himself as such ? 



It was not till the last part of Froebel's life that he came to 
the conclusion that education must begin, if it were to be entirely 
eflFectual, in the mother's arms. 

He published the first edition of his great work for the nursery 
period at the same time that he was working out the processes 
of the Kindergarten for children between the ages of three and 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 21 

seven, which, at last he decided, was the most important period 
of the whole educational life, it being that during which the 
child passes from the irresponsibility of babyhood into the age of 
accountability, and his understanding is formed by the reaction 
upon his sensibility of outward nature and his own spontaneous 
movements. 

This very remarkable book * is in its second edition, which 
lies before us, a folio of some 200 pages, illustrated by sixty 
elaboi'ate engravings, and about thirty pages of music. First 
come seven little poems, containing the musings of the mother 
sung over her baby. In these seven poems, and in the appendix 
of notes in prose, explanatoiy of them and of the engravings of 
the title-page, Froebel encourages the mother to reverence her 
own emotions in those first days of motherhood, and to inquire 
into their religious and philosophical significance ; regarding 
them as the Heavenly Father's revelation of his presence to 
herself and her child. 

Doubtless these poems and their commentary will sound very 
German to our more English turn of mind. But is it not, 
perhaps, salutary for us Americans to pause at times in our rush 
of life, and allow ourselves to feel the mystery and the prophecies 
that hang round the sacred hour of the first birth, if we would be 
prepared to meet the unimaginable glories of the second, when — 

"Death, with tlie might of his sunbeam, 
Touches the clay, and the soul awakes " ? 

Fifty-five nursery songs follow, somewhat on the principle of 
Mother Goose's " Pat-a-cake," describing little games with the 
fingers and toes, employing the hands and feet, that make the 
baby acquainted with the power of its organs for making motions 
symbolical of all actions and objects that come within a child's 
sphere of fancy and thought during the first three years of its 
life. Each of these nursery songs is preceded by a little poem 
of a few lines, addressed to the mother, and suggesting to her 
the bearings of these plays and fancies on the child's heart and 
life. Each song has elaborate illustrations and explanatory 

* Die Mutter- und Kose-Lieder. Dichtung und Bilder zur edlenPflege 
der Kindheitlebens. Zweite Auflage. Berlin, 1866. 



22 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

notes, as there were to the mother's songs to herself, putting into 
her mouth things to say to her children when they shall be old 
enough, as they will be in a year, or certainly within the first 
two years of their lives, to contemplate the engravings them- 
selves. 

We have the whole of this precious and unique book (in manu- 
script) translated by the able hand of Miss Nina Francis ; and 
all the songs set to new music by Lady Baker, as was necessary 
for the translated verses. The music is now being published 
in England ; and we hope it will not be very long before the 
whole work is republished in this country, the engravings being 
copied in strong outlines, — a style altogether preferable for chil- 
dren's books, as it makes so much stronger an impression on 
their imagination than shaded lines. In the meanwhile we shall 
put one or two of the songs into each of our " Messengers," 
though they must needs lose some of their effect .from want of 
the engraved illustrations and music. And the judicious reader 
will not need to be reminded that the translation of poetry almost 
always injures the music of the original versification ; and all 
the more -when it is necessary to preserve the exact sense, as in 
this case. 



MOTHER'S SONG, ON THE FIRST SIGHT OF HER BABE. 

Translated from "Mutter- und Kose-Lieder." 

O God ! dear God ! in crowning me a wife, 
Thou'st flooded me with sweetest joys of life ! 
And now this angel Thou liast sent to me. 
No greater gift is left to come from Thee ! 

For this fair token of divinest love, 

O husband ! father ! thank our God above ; 

All for eternity that makes us one, 

We find in this — our darling first-born son. 

Thou crown and sweet renewal of our life. 
How may we guard thee 'mid earth's evil strife ? 
Though born in pain, thou surely now shalt rest, 
My blessed child, upon thy mother's breast. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 23 

God, our Father ! Life's perennial Source ! 
Wilt Thou not grant that straight may be his course ! 
We all Thy children are : oh, let one love 
Unite us now with Thee in heaven above ! 



MOTHER'S SONG TO THE BABE. 

In her sense of vital union with it. 

O BABY ! my little one, joyous and gay, 

What do thy smiles to my heart seem to say ? 

Thy glance chases far from my bosom each shadow, 

Like Spring's early sunshine first lighting the meadow. 

Faith gleams in the shine of thy happy blue eye : 

" What harm can befall me when mother is nigh ? " 

Sweet love overflows in thy laugh, low and bright : 

" In union with thee, mother dear, is delight." 

And hoi)e in the clasp of those hands is expressed : 

" The strength of my being I find at thy breast." 

Come, little one, come, and in mother confide ! 

Hand in hand we'll encounter the world's stormy tide. 

Whatevei', my child, thou receiv'st from another. 

Be sure 'tis love only thou'lt find in thy mother ; 

And one day thou'lt tell me, " My hope, love, and faith 

Thou hast tended and nurtured, since first I drew breath.' 

And daily I'll pray that thy fiiith, hope, and love 

May illumine thy childhood, and crown thee above ! 



^ETTER FROM A FROEBEL NURSERY AND KIN- 
DERGARTEN. 

Dear Auntie, — It is Christmas Day, and what present do 
you think we have had ? Papa says that it is one that Santa 
Claus never brought, — only God could give us such a gift. It is 
a little sister ! You know how I have longed to have a little 
sister. The twins have grown up to be three years old, and 
Hari-y is five years old. Ben and Gordie asked papa what made 
God send us a baby ? Papa said he guessed it was so that we 
might have something more to love, for it makes people so happy 
to love. If baby were not loved and taken care of, she would die 
right away ; for a baby is more helpless than any kind of creat- 
ure that lives. She has little legs, but she cannnot walk; she 



24 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

has little hands, but she keeps them shut tight, and does not know- 
how to take hold. She keeps her eyes shut a great deal : mamma 
says it is because she does not know how to look, and so many 
things confuse her. We have got to help her do every thing at 
first ; because, mamma says, she is just getting into her body, 
which is the house she lives in ; and one of the first things she 
will have to learn is how to look out of the windows, which are 
her eyes ; and how to use all the other tools in her house that 
she has to work with. 

I asked papa what mamma meant by the tools in her house ; 
and he said there were her feet to walk with, her ears to hear 
with, her tongue to taste with, her fingers to touch with, and her 
whole hand, which was the most wonderful tool she had ; and he 
asked us what we could do with our hands, and we found we 
could do a hundred things. Then there were her legs and feet 
to walk, dance, and jump with. 

Harry said there were two things she knew how to do now, 
and those were to eat and sleep. But I said I thought sleeping 
was doing nothing at all. 

Harry said, " But eating is doing something ! " 

Papa said, " Yes, eating is doing a very important thing, for 
it is making her body grow larger. And there is another thing 
she can do already, and that is to stretch," Papa says it makes 
her arms, and all her body strong, to stretch; and. she must nut 
be tightly dressed, or too much bundled up, or be hindered ' 
any way from stretching whenever she wants to. He says, tL 
more she stretches, the more she knows she has a body, and the 
gladder she is to be alive. Papa says grown up people ought to 
stretch a good deal every day. He stretches for a good while 
every morning when he gets up, and every night after he goes 
to bed, and it makes him feel healthy and strong, and sleep 
better. And what else do you think he said? It was very 
funny, I thought ; but he did say that / taught him to stretch 
when I was a little baby ! Little babies, he says, teach their 
parents a great deal ; and if we watch baby, she would teach us 
almost as much as we can teach her ! 

But my sheet of paper will not hold another word, except that 
I am your affectionate Cousin Fanny. 



A Monthly of 24 pages. 
EDITED BY ELIZABETH P. PEABODY. 



No. 2. — JUNE, 1873. 

Subscriptions of one dollar, payable in advance to the Editor, 19 Follen Street, 
Cambridge; subscription lists and specimen numbers can be obtained at N. C. 
Peabody's Homoeopathic Pharmacy, 56 Beach Street, Boston; at E. Steigek's, 
22 and 24 Frankfort Street, New York; and at Pdtnam & Sons, 23rd Street 
and 4th Avenue, New York. 

ADVERTISEMENT. 

EXPERIENCED publishers tell me that the Kindergarten 
Messenger has had a most encouraging response in the num- 
ber of subscribers, considering that it has had no other herald, 
advocate, or agent but itself, and that it is but a few weeks old. I 
venture, therefore, to put forth another number; and I send it to 
some to whom I sent the first, though they have not responded- As 
I sent to few who had not expressed to me their interest in Kinder- 
garten by inquiriug letters, I think they may have accidentally omit- 
ted to answer. But I do not wish to intrude, and respectfully re- 
quest that any of them who do not subscribe would send back to 
me the two numbers. A postage of one cent will carry the pack- 
age. 

I ask this favor that my new subscribers may have the back num- 
bers, of which I have but a few copies left. 

Elizabeth P. Peabody. 

N. B. — There is no provision for a free Normal Class in Boston 
or anywhere else, for training Kindergartners next winter, but we 
are glad to know that Miss Garland, of Boston, and Miss Boelte, 
of New York, will have private classes ; and that Miss Blow, a 
pupil of Miss BoKLTE, is to open a Model Kindergarten in the 
Normal School of St. Louis, Mo. ; also, that there has gone to 
Madame Kriege and her daughter, now in Germany, an invitation 
from the Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, to make a 
Kindergarten Model School and Normal Class in their Ladies' 
College. 

KJNDEKGARTEN NORlttAL. CI.ASS. 

MISS garland will open a private class in Boston, fortraining Kindergarten 
teachers, in November. The number of students will be limited. A thor- 
ough English education and general culture are indispensable qualifications for 
a.dmission. 

Application may be made at No. 98 Chestnut Street, between 1 and 3, p.m., 
every day but Saturday, till September 25. 



2 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

mOEBEL'S LAW OP CONTRASTS AND THEIR CONNECTION.* 

The men who see and hear are, comparatively, few ; they 
ai-e Nature's chosen interpreters. To them are imparted cer- 
tain of her secrets ; to them are confided certain clues, by 
which multitudes of less finely-inspired but earnest souls are 
guided into the perfect harmony of truth. It may happen 
that the student, after years of patient but unsatisfactory 
search and experiments, is impelled by a swift thought to 
bend a little closer over the nearest oracle of Nature, and 
that instant he grasps the magic thread ! Such a moment 
there was for Sir Isaac .Newton, when, after long study and 
rigorous demonstration he saw the Law of Gravitation rising 
before him, and felt deep agitation of soul at the thought of 
the immense and wonderful harmony it revealed ! Such a 
moment there was for Friedrich Froebel, when in the 
eager pursuit of Natural Science, at Berlin, he saw the clue 
that he had been seeking almost from his childhood ! He 
grasped this clue, followed it, and put into hands of others 
who still follow it, '-'•FroeheVs Law of Contrasts and their 
Connection.^'' 

In what sense is it " Froebel's Law ? " Not certainly in 
the same sense that the Law of Gravitation may be called 
'-'-NewtorCs Law^ Froebel did not, by his own observation, 
establish a certain order of facts, or numerically define the 
measure of a certain force. Under other names — as equilib- 
rium, equipoise — the law had been recognized before, and 
its effects observed in various phenomena. But Froebel 
first saw the relation of this recognized law to a particular 
purpose, and made it subservient to the attainment of a spe- 
cial end^ namely, the culture of the human being. 

Before following the law in its application to human cul- 
ture, let us look at some of its effects in nature. Rolling in 
space round its central sun our globe is kept in its orbit by 



* This paper was read by Miss Garland, in May, 1872, on the occasion of her 
graduating from Madame Kriege's ^Jormal Class. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 3 

the perfect adjustment of forces, contrary the one to the 
other; and not the earth only — a mere dust-grain compared 
with other planets — but the entire system of worlds is 
thus controlled. Either force alone would destroy the uni- 
verse. The centrifugal forces would fling the planets off into 
space were it not for the force of gravitation ; and the force 
of gravitation, without the centrifugal forces, would dash 
them against the sun. A slight study of astronomy or 
chemistry is sufficient to reveal almost infinite adjustments, 
of a like nature, in the inorganic world. All organic forms 
witness to the law. See the germinating seed ! Plant it as 
you will, the plumule and the rootlet turn in their proper and 
opposite directions, the one upward, into the air, the other 
downward into the earth, and only through the connection 
of these natural contrasts do we receive the perfect vegeta- 
ble form and functions ! The topmost branches of the forest 
tree, reaching far toward the sky, and its roots a hundred 
feet below, tortuously boring their subterranean way, are not 
only outwardly and visihly connected by the erect and mas- 
sive trunk, but have their vital union in . the sap, the blood 
of the tree, a secret, noiseless current, flowing through its 
body and leafy fingers, from root to crown and crown to 
root ! 

Governed by the same law of growth, the tiny speedwell 
opens its blue eye scarcely an inch from the ground ; and be- 
tween the giant tree and the baby weed we have countless 
variations of the same theme. But the forms around us are 
so manifold, How can there be unity ? is the cry of our unbe- 
lief! Yet we can trace all organic forms to the cell, all inor- 
ganic forms to the primary crystal shapes in our earth-crust. 
From the rock crystals to the sky crystals, the fairy snow- 
flakes, we can follow the "divine geometry," and see that 
Nature's manifoldness is still oneness. 

And the being who is moved with wonder and admiration 
as he marks the grand effects of this law of connected con- 
trasts, — is he an exception to the law ? Does he not at the 



4 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

moment unite the world of matter and of mind ? His phys- 
ical life is developed and sustained like that of all organized 
.beings. He breathes by opposites — by inhaling and exhal- 
ing the air; his body is nourished by opposites — by assimi- 
lation and elimination of food ; he thinks by means of oppo- 
sites — by recognition of similarity or difference through 
comparison. Surely man himself is a most marvellous con- 
nection of contrasts ! 

Our observation of inanimate and animate nature con- 
vinces us of the universality of this law ; and if we choose 
to question Art, she will tell us that her creations and color- 
ings are likewise skilful contrasts and combinations of dbfew 
simple elements, according to Nature's rule. A recent scien- 
tific writer says: "The number of substances deemed ele- 
mentary has varied with the advance of science, but, as com- 
pared with the variety of their products, that number may 
be considered infinitesimally small, whilst the progress of 
analysis, with glimpses of laws yet unknown, renders it al- 
most certain that this number will be found smaller still. 
Yet out of this small number of elementary substances, hav- 
ing fixed laws, too, limiting their combination, all the infinite 
varieties of organic and inorganic matter are built up by 
means of nice adjustment. All the faculties of a powerful 
mind can utter their voice in language whose elements are 
reducible to twenty-four letters ; so all the forms of Nature 
are worked out from a few simple elements having a few 
simple properties." 

Now let us tarn to Froebel's application of the law of con- 
trasts and their connection in education, — understanding 
education to mean the harmonious development of man's 
entire nature. As instinctive manifestations or natural im- 
pulses serve for the development of all creatures, Froebel 
would aid this natural development in the child by supplying 
from the earliest period external conditions favorable to 
healthy growth. Nursery plays and songs, used instinctively 
the world over, he would have not less natural and fond, but 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 5 

more wisely turned into a means of strengthening the pliant 
limbs, and at the same time healthfully feeding the receptive 
mind, llegarding^rs^ impressions as the food by which the 
soul is aroused and strengthened for its manifestation, he 
would have these impressions given by means of 2ifew simple 
objects 13 resenting marked contrasts, yet harmonious in com- 
bination ; for thus receiving through the senses clear impres- 
sions, the mind will, later, work them into clear conceptions, 
and by and by reproduce them in intelligent acts. 

Accordingly we find the first Gift in Froebel's series of 
objects to be six colored worsted balls, of a size suited to 
little hands. In the ball is presented the simplest yet most 
comprehensive of all forms, and gradually the child is made 
acquainted with primary and secondary colors, and their har- 
monious arrangement. Ball-plays, constantly exemplifying 
our law by means of rhythmical motion, are carried on from 
the nursery through the Kindergarten, and aid in physical 
and mental develojDment. 

The second Gift, a wooden sphere, cube, and cylinder, dif- 
fers in its substance from the first, but is connected with it 
in the form of one of its three objects. Here our contrasts 
are the sphere and cube, while in the cylinder we have their 
connection. 

The third Gift is a two-inch cube, divided once in each 
dimension. It has an obvious connection with the preceding 
Gift, but its divisions enable us to produce, according to the 
law, a great variety of forms. From the third to the seventh 
Gift we have cubes of various sizes, each presenting some 
new feature ; in the fourth are oblongs, in the fifth the small 
cubes are divided into halves and quarters, and in the sixth 
we receive doubly-divided oblongs. 

The solids then give place to surfaces or planes, and with 
these the law is carried out in a series of geometrical forms. 
From the plane to the embodied line, in small staffs ; from 
the embodied line to the pictured line, in drawing, and the 
point in pricking, we follow constantly the same law ; weav- 



6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

ing, paper-folding, modelling in clay, all the occupations of 
the Kindergarten are based on it, and the child, as he invents 
or studies the figure he produces by slight but orderly 
changes in the material given him, leai'ns that in forms of use, 
beauty, or knowledge, the symmetry of the whole depends 
upon the exact arrangement of the opposite parts. 

' But like the child do we still push back to first causes with 
"why?" — why did Froebel think this law so important in 
early education ? It may be universal, and upon it all unity 
in diversity may rest ; the mature mind may study it with 
interest, but surely the child cannot comprehend it! The 
answer is, the child is not expected to comprehend it, nor 
will he even hear of it as an abstract law. All science is 
based on experimental knowledge ; the child's knowledge is 
experimental. 

By dealing with Nature's fundamental forms, and con- 
stantly applying, though usconsciously, the fundamental law, 
in the formative period of life, arrangement, classification, 
and combination become life elements, and a deep and broad 
foundation is laid for lofty and liberal culture. 

We must not, however, forget that there are perverted 
natural impulses, and if time allowed, we might show that 
Froebel's system furnishes a corrective for these ; for instance, 
we have in it a means of turning the impulse we call destruc- 
tiveness into constructiveness, by developing through this law 
the child's self-activity in creative acts. 

We should like to dwell upon the application of the law 
to the formation of character ; we can only touch upon it. 
The harmonious blending of play and work, of freedom and 
order, of individual rights and social duties,- — the connection 
that is established between the works and plays of the child, 
and the industries, arts, and sciences of men, surely creates an 
atmosphere favorable to the formation of good habits, and 
the love of the Beautiful, the True, the Good, 

The unity of human life through all its different phases is 
recognized. " The child is father to the man," and Educa- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 7 

tion^ if worthy of its name, must help to bind the days of 
this human life " each to each with natural piety ^ Schiller 
points to this need of moral culture in these words : " It is 
not enough that all intellectual improvement deserves our 
regard only so far as it flows hack upon the character, it 
must in a manner proceed from the character, since the way 
to the head must be opened through the heart. Cultivation 
of the perceptive faculty is, then, the most pressing want of 
the age, not only as a means to make a practical application 
of an improved insight, but for its own sake, because it 
prompts to this improvement of insight." 

But the man of facts — the man immortalized by Dickens 
" Mr. Thomas Gradgrind," objects to any law that aids the 
development of the Ideal, to any system that excludes two 
of th>e distinguished r^ — reading and writing — until the 
^nature age of seven ! We do not hope to move him by ar- 
gument — he is wholly wanting in faith, "the evidence of 
things not seen." He will still repeat, "Facts, alone, are 
wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything 
else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals 
from facts, and nothing else will be of any seiwice to them ; 
stick to facts — facts — facts ! " It would be of no use to tell 
him that the senses are the feeders and tools of the mind, 
and that his favorite system of instruction, which presents 
the abstraction before the object, the sign before the thing 
signified, is contrary to natural principles : he will continue 
to regard young children as " empty pitchers to be filled to 
the brim with imperial gallons of facts." 

It would be worse than useless to speak of unity to one 
who is content with unifortnity, or to refer to the model given 
us by the Divine Teacher when he spoke to the simple peo- 
ple in parable or comparison, impressing their minds with the 
objects of external nature, that through them they might 
learn the highest spiritual truths. No, we cannot in this 
way persuade such an objector, but it would not be very 
difficult to supply him with facts for his note-book, showing 



8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

that the age calls for reform in its most vaunted school sys- 
tems ; that stimulation of the intellect must be balanced by 
practical work ; that formation of character jnust be a pri- 
mary object, and the end aimed at in primary schools, if we 
would lessen the obstinate numerical facts of pauperism, 
vice, and crime. 

' So long as we seek definite results, fiery-red with haste, 
and those results not always the most ennobling, we shall 
never apprehend that golden mean between Person and Con- 
dition, Freedom and Nature, where the true humanity will 
finally rest and expand. 

"The age culls simples, 
With a broad clown's back turned broadly to the glory of the stars ; 
We are gods by our own reckoning — and may well shut up the 
temples, 
And wield ou amid the incense-steam, the thunder of our cars. 

For we throw out acclamations of self-thanking, self-admiring, 
With — at every mile run — faster — O, the wondrous, wondrous 
age! 
Little thinking if we work our souls as nobly as our iron. 
Or if angels will commend us at the goal of pilgrimage." 

We believe in Froebei's law, and we believe, too, that it 
must be no dead letter^ but a living power, in teachers filled 
with somewhat of the loving, gentle spirit of the man who 
understood the law in nature, and discovered its use in edu- 
cation. Like Froebel, his followers must strive to be true 
to nature, to man, and to God, waiting patiently while they 
labor in a new, and in our age of steam, suspiciously slow 
way. They can, at least, give so much of the world as falls 
within their influence a direction toward the good through 
the beautiful, toward the unseen and eternal through the 
seen and temporal; and if the "tranquil rhythm" of time 
should fail to bring its development within their view, yet 
the connection between seed-time and harvest will be clearly 
established, when the great Parable of Nature shall be un- 
veiled, — when the seeming discords, the sharp contrasts of 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 9 

our eai'thly existence, — its good and evil, joy and sorrow, 
effort and apparent failure, meeting and parting, shall be re- 
solved into the sweet accord, the rich harmony of an undi- 
vided, a perfect life. 



EZHIEITION OF THE TBAINED KINDEnaAHTNEnS mSTBUCTED 
B7 MISS GABLAND, IN THE BOSTON CLASS OF 1872-3. 

It was a mistake that this exhibition was so private. It 
was in a too inaccesssible place, and not advertised. It was 
also most unfortunate that it should have come on the last 
day of Rubenstein's concert ; for it is a pregnant fact, that 
the most profound lovers of music are just those who are 
most able and ready to appreciate Froebel's science and 
art. In fact Kindergarten culture justifies the old Greeks in 
their use of the word music to express Education in general. 
All the muses are worshipped in the perfect education, to 
which the Kindergarten is the only adequate initiation, — 
not merely the muse of song, though she is certainly not ne- 
glected, for every play is accompanied by a directing song. 

Miss Garland, whom Mrs. Kriege left to supply the place 
of herself and daughter, both in the Kindergarten and Nor- 
mal class, has had a deeply interested company of twelve, 
during the winter, eight of whom received diplomas of com- 
petency to teach ; two having been unable to earn them on 
account of being detained from the school at least one-third 
of the six-months' term ; and the insufficient previous culture 
of two rendering it necessary for them also to take another 
course before graduation. Miss Garland read the questions 
of examination, to which written answers had been required ; 
and the audience could see that six months' training was a 
short term to enable any one to make adequate answers. It 
was much to be regretted that there was not time for the 
answers to be read ; but two and a half hours were taken up 
in listening to the pupils' admirable essays, viz. :— ^ 



lO KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

1. '■'■The Importance of the Earliest Education to the 
Character^ and the Relation of the Kindergarten to the 
Some^ By Mrs. Waterman, of Melrose. 

2. ''■The Kindergarten; What Is It?'"' By Miss Dew- 
ing, of Revere. 

3. " What Should the Kindergartner Know f " By Miss 
D. A. Curtis. 

4. '■'•The Relation of the Kindergarten to the Primary 
SchooV By Mrs. John Ogden, of Worthington, Ohio. 

5. '■'■Eyes that See, and Ears that Sear, — the Kinder- 
garten Discipline of the SensesP By Miss Symonds, one of 
the primary-school teachers of Boston. 

6. '■'■Froebel the Builder.^'' By Miss R. J. Weston, one of 
the primary-school teachers of Boston. 

There was time for no more, but these were enough to 
show what profound study had occupied these ladies, and 
how faithfully Miss Garland had done her duty. The 
young ladies beg^n with singing a hymn, which one of them 
had composed, and they afterwards sang a song; it would 
have been still more satisfactory and explanatory, had they 
sung the songs that direct the movement plays. But to 
hear these songs, and even to see the work done by the 
ladies of the normal class, which was shown on the day of 
the exhibition, could only enable the public to appreciate the 
superficies of the Kindergarten, unless they would consider 
and divine that the value of these pretty things consists in 
their vivifying the laws within the children's souls, which 
regulate a healthy development of the understanding, and 
give rectitude to the normal will. 

It is possible, as has been suggested by M. C. R., in the 
Boston Daily Adoertiser, of June 7 (supplement), to ser- 
vilely copy the action of some Kindergartner, without con- 
prehending the spirit of Froebel. But there was a curious 
non seguitur to M. C. R.'s first excellent paragraphs, which 
evinced a fine comprehension of Froebel's ideal, in the 
doubt thrown on the value of keeping strictly to the mate- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. II 

rials and methods which his lifelong experience suggested as 
the best. Those who have most profoundly and longest and 
most faithfully pursued the methods he proposed in practical 
detail (such as Madame Vogler, of Berlin, and Madame Mar- 
quart, of Dresden), have said that they always found more 
or less confusion to result from changing or subtracting from 
Froebel's own way of doing ; and there is no need of adding 
anything, for the materials he has proposed are sufficiently 
rich, and found to be richer the more strictly they are used. 
Froebel's theory meets all the demands of the idealist ; but 
he was a practical worker, a practical mathematician, natur- 
alist, and student of living human nature, always studying 
the processes as well as the laws of vital growth. Of course 
nobody can keep Kindergarten mechanically, and by mere 
imitation of the forms of his practice, without a comprehen- 
sion of their idea ! But any suggestions to young teachers, 
of inventing ways of their own, are dangerous, and lead 
astray the self-opinionated, young and old. 

Nothing is more important than for those who undertake 
to be practical Kindergartners, to lay aside as much as possi- 
ble all preconceived notions, and to beware of the temptation 
of their own idiosyncrasies. The truly original and self- 
respecting will most carefully work in the paths Froebel 
has pointed out. It is a striking fact, that whenever expe- 
rienced persons, and the best primary-school teachers, have 
studied in the Normal classes, — they have been most scru- 
pulously appreciative of Froebel's practice as well as theory. 
Mrs. Waterman is a grandmother, and has been of unexcep- 
tional reputation all her life lor her tact with children ; yet 
she thought it worth while, during all this long, severe win- 
ter, to go twice a week all the way from Melrose to 98 C'hest- 
nut Street, Boston, to learn the details of the practice from 
Miss Garland, because t-he appreciated the principles. 

Miss Symonds and Miss Weston, who read the two last 
essays at the exhibition, are of the very most valued of the 
primary-school teachers of Boston ; and Mrs. John Ogden 



12 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

was for many years a highly esteemed public-school teacher 
in the West ; and after her marriage she taught in Tennessee 
during the two years when Mr. John Ogden was Superin- 
tendent of the Education established by the State. She had 
studied the Froebel literature, and became possessed with 
his general ideas, and herself experimented on her own and 
neighbors' children. But she found it worth while to take 
her children and come to Boston, in midwinter, and make 
great sacrifices of personal comfort, to study the details of 
the processes, and the order of Froebel's practical exercises 
from Miss Garland, who was taught by Madame Kriege 
and her daughter, who were taught by the Baroness Maren- 
holz and Madame Vogler, — Froebel's own favorite pupils. 

We agi-ee that it seems stupid and mechanical to study out 
the directions for the exercises in Rouge's, Wiebe's, and 
even Jacob's and Goldammer's Manuals; they should be 
learned from a living teacher, and then these manuals may 
serve as reminders. The living teaching is necessary, just as 
in all high art, to prevent mannerisms and mistakes, which 
are misfortunes to the children. To learn by the mistakes 
of experience will do, when the material worked upon is 
clay, wood, or even the mountain crystal marbles, — but not 
when the material is diamond, and especially the human 
jewel. Then the worker must have beforehand not only the 
theory but the details of practice, for children are not to be 
sacrified to the self-education of their teachers. We com- 
mend this to the consideration of M. C. R., whose name we 
wish we knew, as her (or his) ideal of the Kindergarten is 
perfect. 

We hope to print all of the Essays given at the Exhibition, 
but have space in this number only for one. 

Extract from Mrs. Ogden's Paper on the Helation of the 
Kindergarten to the Primary Schools. 

* * * The number of thoughtful mothers is small compared with 
the thoughtless, selfish, poor, and vicious. In a country where 



KINDERG/iRTEN MESSENGER. 1 3 

schools are free, few parents can be found enlightened enough to 
support private Kindergartens, though twice the amount necessary 
may be spent in hurtful toys and sweetmeats by those who feel too 
poor to pay sixty or eighty dollars per annum for this best kind of 
culture. 

But among its numerous functions, the State recognizes a duty to 
repair, so far as possible, the faults of ignorant, poor, and vicious 
parents. This duty is supposed to begin when the child is five or 
six years old. Two years it is left in the street, in dirt and confu- 
sion, learning profanity and obscenity. 

Every teacher who takes these little ones from the street will 
admit that the most difficult task she has, is to undo what has been 
done by street training. How much harder to eradicate bad habits 
of manner, speech, and thought, than to teach reading and spelling ! 
Could the money now spent in penitentiaries, police courts, and re- 
form schools, be spent in preventing crime, would it not be wiser 
as well as happier? 

Granting that Kindergartens are more expensive than primary 
schools, they certainly are not so expensive as high schools. The 
benefit derived from the latter is by no means a general one, be- 
cause poor people cannot afford to send their children to school 
after they are old enough to earn a living. 

The cost of two years of primary schools should be considered 
also, as the Kindergarten retains the child till its eighth year. 
Some of us believe, too, that the child thus trained will make such 
rapid progress afterward as to save one or two years more in the 
amount of knowledge acquired, to say nothing of mental discipline 
and power to use knowledge. 

The public Kindergarten should take the children, not only of 
cultivated parents but those of the ignorant, just as they emerge 
from home to street life, and so train them in the good, the beauti- 
ful, and the true, as to make sin repulsive and crime impossible. 

If the child learn thus to think, to express its thought in correct 
language, and acquires habits of industry, politeness, unselfishness, 
and voluntary submission to laws of order, — is not more accom- 
plished for its future welfare and influence in society, than is now 
accomplished in the primary school between the ages of five and 
seven ? That the Kindergarten does accomplish this, all who have 
fairly tested it will admit ; those who are unwilling to test it fairly 
surely have no right to criticise. 

The Kindergarten labors under a disadvantage in appealing to the 
public eye, ear, and purse ; because it cannot be understood unless 



14 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

its system be carefully studied. People who visit it, speak of it as 
"a pretty sight," "a cunning little school," or "a place to keep 
children out of their mother's way," but fail to recognize the sys- 
tematic efforts of the Kindergartner to develop the child's nature 
from inward thought to outward action. Mrs. Browning's poetical 
resolve applies not less to those who study how to develop child's 
nature : — 

" What form is best for poems ? Let me think 
Of forms less, and the external. Trust the spirit 
As sovran nature does, to make the form : 
For otherwise we only imprison spirit 
And not embody. Inward evermore 
To outioard ;—so in life, and so in art, 
"Which still is life." 

How many imprisoned spirits struggle for embodiment through 
misshapen lives, only the " Searcher of hearts " knows. Holy and 
beautiful thoughts abound in sermons, lectures, and literature ; but 
are they often embodied in beautiful lives ? Why not ? 



WHAT I SAW IN KINDERGARTEN. 

BY MES. EMMA C. WHIPPLE. 

Thb most striking contrast between the present primary- 
school system and that of the Kindergarten consists in the 
utilization, by the latter, of the natural traits and activity of 
young children. Froebel seems to have made a discovery 
of certain laws which govern the development of children, 
and to have, in the most wonderfully beautiful and simple 
method, adapted means to this end. 

The "irrepressible infant," the terror and the charm of the 
orderly circle of proper and staid elders, under Froebel's 
methods becomes harmonious and orderly, and finding food 
for his activity in the series of occupations devised by this 
benefactor, ceases from destroying every thing within his 
reach, and learns to create forms of symmetry, to enjoy exer- 
cise of skill of hand in many various ways, and all this with- 
out constraint having been imposed ; direction, it is true, is 
given, and the true meaning of the word Kindergarten ex- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 5 

presses just the sort of direction, for to give each plant a 
culture fitted to its best growth and development, and to 
prune and train into orderly and beautiful growth the plants 
under her care, is the function of the Kindergartner, 

Froebel seems to have thoroughly believed that the all- 
wise and good Father knew what these little ones needed 
to enable them to attain the harmonious development which 
is the birthright of all who are born of woman ; and so he 
has provided for the education of the whole being of the child 
from its earliest conscious existence, carefully directing that 
in the earliest months only " clear impressions " shall be pre- 
sented of objects, in order that afterward clear ideas may be 
formed. While yet in the arms of the loving mother or 
faithful nurse, the study of the new world into which the 
child has been ushered commences, and upon the wisdom and 
faithfulness of those in whose love and care it rests, will de- 
pend in a very great degree the quality of mind and heart, 
as well as the healthful growth of the body, of the child. 
That so large a portion of the children born, die within the 
first few years, proves that neither parental love, nor skill of 
doctors, nor science of physiologists has been of avail to find 
out the true methods ; for it seems an insult to our Father to 
believe that such hosts of children are born, at such a lavish 
expenditure of hopes and love, of pain and sorrow, only to 
wither and die. That so many children are imbecile, idiotic, 
or in any manner abnormal, is a stern fact, which proclaims 
that all the wisdom of the past has not sufficed to teach us 
how to rear sound minds in healthy bodies. Those whose 
eyes have been annointed are confident that in the system 
and methods of Froebel is contained a new element, a prom- 
ise of " Paradise Regained." 

The child is three years old, and it may now attend a 
Kindergarten ; but we must, however, say here, that the fur- 
niture and arrangements for a Kindergarten must have a 
special adaptation to this method of teaching. 

The desks are covered with lines which make squares of 



1 6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

an inch ; this teaches the child to arrange his materials in an 
orderly manner; and as rules are given for each occiipation, 
in a few days you will see the little three-year old as intently 
counting the squares, to know on which line to place his 
blocks or sticks, as if he had been born to do nothing else ; 
this enables the child to comprehend direction; "up" and 
"down," "right" and "left," are illustrated by means of 
these squares. 

" But do you teach such abstractions to a child of three 
years old ? " perhaps you ask ; " Is it not cruel to compel 
such a mere baby to sit at a desk and learn things ? " Were 
this a primary school of the usual kind, this would be a per- 
tinent inquiry, and it might, perhaps, come within the scope 
of the investigations of Mr. Bergh. But Froebel has found 
that, by combining knowing and doing., a very young child is 
made capable of receiving impressions, which become, by de- 
grees, the basis of ideas., and the chasm from the unknown to 
the known, from the concrete to the abstract, is bridged over 
successfully by the various occupations of the Kindergarten. 

From the first happy hour that the child enters this " Par- 
adise of Childhood," as the Kindergarten has justly been 
called, hands and brain., in work and play., preserve a happy 
equilibrium; and it becomes apparent to all who observe, 
that many a law of high significance to the child's future de- 
velopment has become a part of his consciousness, and that, 
too, without any strain of the mind, any weariness of the 
body, but with only the joy which use gives in the exercise 
of all the faculties given us by the Creator. 

" How is all this accomplished ? " do you inquire. 

Your little pet of three years old, who has never passed a 
morning out of the light of his mother's eyes, has been de- 
posited in the Kindergarten ; the genial Kindergartner, 
whose skill has been attained through faithful study of her 
subject, whose tenderness thrills in her voice, and whose sin- 
cere love for childhood has led her to devote herself to this 
work, cannot fail to attract the little one; and after the 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. I 7 

gentle murmur of subdued voices repeating the prayer to the 
" Father in heaven who loves little children so well," followed 
by a little song or story, the day's lessons begin. " Lessons ! " 
you say ; " What lessons can be given to such a baby as our 
Tommy ? " 

Did you ever realize how much knowledge your child has 
mastered in the three years in which he has lived in our 
world ? 

He has learned to walk, to run, to climb ; he has learned 
to judge very correctly of the qualities of many things, and 
attaches a value to apples and oranges in direct proportion 
to their size. He is quite an adept in natural history, knows 
most of the domestic animals, has learned to speak and un- 
derstand the English language ! and is withal an accomplished 
diplomat, and will " lobby " through a doubtful bill with a 
skill quite amazing and amusing to an impartial observer. 

A card, with holes pricked at the distance of a quarter of 
an inch apart, is now given to the little one, with a thread 
of bright-colored worsted and a needle ; he is shown how to 
put the needle back and forth so as to form straight lines in 
series; he is told that these are "vertical," and when 
this lesson, by frequent repetition, has been fully taken in, he 
is shown how to form "horizontal" lines, and before you 
are aware that he has learned anything at the Kindergarten, 
he is using these terms intelligently in reference to objects 
around him. 

At another hour a slate and pencil are given to the child, 
for the drawing lesson is in progress now. You will observe 
that the slate is ruled into squares of a quarter of an inch by 
lines cut in the surface of the slate, and here again vertical 
lines of one square's length are made. These lessons go on 
regularly, week after week, until lines of two, three, four, 
and five squares in length are made perfectly. This is the 
foundation for a system of drawing, so beautiful in its self- 
developing character, as to seem to those who have observed 
it to be the only true method. 



1 8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

If you will look in on another day, you will find your 
child and his little companions happily occupied with two, 
three, four or five, or perhaps ten, little smooth sticks, which 
they arrange, according to directions given, on the lines on 
their tables. When as much knowledge has been given as 
the young things may at once receive, permission is given to 
"invent" forms, and then each child starts ofi" on its own 
hobby ; the differences in the bent of each child begin to be 
seen whenever free invention is the order of the hour. The 
vivid imagination of the child will see a likeness to many 
things in the simple forms it can create from these few and 
simple materials ; and, I speak from a careful observation of 
children under both conditions, there is far greater pleasure 
to the child in this exercise of its inventive faculties, than can 
ever be obtained from the most elaborate toys, which are 
often broken by children, simply from the desire for material 
to work out their own inventions with. But our careful 
Kindergartner is ever watchful, lest even this occupation, so 
light, and rendered so cheerful from the orderly interchange 
of opinions and ideas among these inventors, should overtask 
the little ones ; and now the luncheon, temporarily hidden in 
various tiny receptacles, awaits the busy little bees, and 
trooping they come ; and, while the gentle and sympathetic 
care of the teacher makes an air of peace surround the little 
group, the luncheon is eaten, and rosy apple and golden or- 
ange, luscious grape or juicy pear, with bread or its substi- 
tutes, forms a feast which seems a sort of angelic picnic ; and 
happy merry tones bear witness to the healthful effect of the 
social feature of the lunch. Ah, well may it be, if in the fu- 
ture banquets of maturer years, such genial flow of soul refine 
the joys of the table, and make dining "a feast of reason and 
a flow of soul." Lunch is ovei', the tiny baskets are emptied, 
the sense of satisfaction which is inspired by food eaten in 
due season and in social surroundings, makes every one in 
good humor, and the signal being given, the "ring" is formed, 
and one of the " one hundred plays " with the ball, which 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 9 

Froebel calls " the earliest friend of the child," is played to 
the rhythm of a song adapted to each play. The balls edu- 
cate more than mere skill of hand. They are six in number, 
of the three primary and the three secondary colors. Froe- 
bel's directions are very precise as to the sequence in which 
these shall be used — a primary color should be followed by 
a secondary color connecting it with another color — so care- 
ful has he been in all that pertains to the education of the 
child, — nothing so minute as to be unnoticed by him. Half 
an hour quickly passes, while " The ball comes round to meet 
us," " My ball, I want to catch you," and the ever-favorite 
play of " Who '11 buy eggs," are each played till every child 
has had a turn, after which more lessons follow. You would 
weary of reading sooner than I of writing, if I were to de- 
scribe "The Weaving," "The Building," "The Pricking," 
"The Pea-work," "The Clay-modelling," and "The Folding" 
lessons which fill out the attractive round of occupations ; 
and the object-lessons, which are given every week; of the 
knowledge of seeds and plants, which is imparted by sundry 
walks in autumn days to gather seeds of, perhaps, maple 
trees, which are planted in pots, and are actually growing 
before their sight ; of the bulbs, which were first made the 
subject of an object-lesson before they were started; and of 
the daily mission of watering the plants, which is given to 
the children in turn ; of the visits to the fernery, where our 
frogs are passing the winter in serene and safe retiracy; of 
the groups of embryo artists, who are engaged at some por- 
tions of the morning in " free-hand drawing " at the several 
blackboards. Indeed, I vei-ily believe there is no limit to the 
delights of a true Kindergarten, kept according to the teach- 
ing of Froebel, by a teacher such as I have made my model 
in this letter. I must not forget to say here that everything 
made by the children is set apart, from its first beginning, as 
a gift of love to "dear mamma," or "grandma," or "nurse," 
or some loved one ; and one of the prettiest sights imagina- 
ble is to see these little midgets carrying home their com- 
pleted works of art — a folded leaf^ a pricked card, or a 



20 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

weaving leaf. Froebel insists that the true way to learn 
generosity is by doing the generous deed. 

I have been for the past six months a daily attendant on 
the Normal Training-school for Kindergartners. What I 
have in this imperfect sketch attempted to describe I have 
daily seen and have been part of. I cannot be considered as 
a youthful visionary — I am the mother of bearded men, and 
grandmother of several grandchildren, and I have constantly 
felt great regret that my practical acquaintance with Froe- 
bel's system came too late to be of avail in training my own 
children. My grand childi-en, God willing, shall not lose some 
benefit from the late-acquired knowledge I have gained. If 
this statement of mine, which is a hasty picture of one day of 
Miss Kriege's Kindergarten, shall determine one mother to 
seek such a school for her children, or inspire some young 
woman with a love for the work of a Kindergartner which 
shall induce her to study the method theoretically and prac- 
tically, I shall console myself for my indequate description. 

I must run the risk of making my letter tediously long by 
continuing to say, that I do not think any person ought to 
attempt to teach a Kindergarten without a training under a 
skilled teacher. The system of Froebel is so beautifully 
developed, from its first principles, that a missing link would 
mar its harmonious completeness; and although for many 
years 1 had been interested in accounts of German Kinder- 
gartens, and had read with a strong predisposition in favor 
of the system all that I could find in English, I did not begin 
to understand the beauty of the theory, nor the happy adap- 
tation of the methods, until I became a pupil at the training- 
school. 



The most important step was taken in England, in behalf 
of Froebel's system, by the establishment at Manchester, in 
October, 1872, of training classes for Kindergartners. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. . 21 

The course is two years, in three terras of tec weeks, each 
terra costing the pupil £2. Every morning the young ladies 
are required to be present and observe in the Kindergartens 
of the city, kept by the four lady teachers, who each give 
two afternoons in the week to the training school. 

Miss EnMANT, to teach singing ; Miss Snell, to teach 
gyranastics; Miss Jurisch and Miss Burton, to teach the 
rationale of the several occupations and plays. W. A. 
Hereford, B. A., lectures on the science of education ; Louis 
BoRCHARDT, Esq., M. D., on healtli ; Thomas Alcock, Esq., 
M. D., on natural history, each one evening in every week. 

Other subjects are lectured upon the second year in addi- 
tion to the above, but not to their exclusion ; and, at the end 
of the two years, certificates of proficiency are issued by the 
Council of the Association, which consists of fifty gentlemen 
and eighteen ladies, among whom we find the names of Pro- 
fessor Huxley, of London ; Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Bright, 
M. P., of Alderly Edge; canons, esquires, aldermen, and 
physicians, whose titles mean something in England. We 
hoped to be able to give a report from one of the council, 
Mrs. Moore, 2 Darling Place, Higher Broughton, respecting 
the year's progress and success of this institution, but her 
letter has not yet come to hand ; and we are also disap- 
pointed of an expected letter from Germany, with the report 
of the great Normal Institution at Dresden, established Jan- 
uary, 1873, as the result of the four years' energetic action 
of the Comraittee of Education of the Philosopher's Con- 
gress, spoken of in our first nuraber. We have, however, 
the prospectus, giving us the names of the professors. It 
requires of persons well qualified to enter, one year's study, 
with observation and practice in the Kindergartens of Dresden. 

Power to understand German, and converse in it easily, is 
an indispensable qualification for entrance on the course. 
The academic fee is twenty thalers for the year. Further in- 
formation may be obtained of Dr. Bruno Marquart, No. 13 
Obersee Strasse, Dresden, Saxony. 



22 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

The lecturers and teachers of this institution are them- 
selves its recommendations. They are — 

Baronin V. Mareistholz Bulow: on Froebel's ground 
principles applied to the education of earliest childhood. 

Dr. HosLFELD : the Fi'oebelian Pedagogy in general. 

Dr. EisTGELHARDT .' Elements of Anatomy and Physiology, 
with the Science of Health. 

Dr. Marquaet ; Elements of Mathematics, and Froebel's 
Materials. 

Dr. Kellner : Natural History. 

Herr Fleischer : Singing. 

Herr Sohoeter : The use of Froebel's occupations. 

Frau KelljSter: Praxis of the same; also of Drawing in 
the Net, and the Movement Plays. 

Fraulein Emma Reinhardt : Modelling. 

If any one goes to Germany to learn Kindergartening 
(which we do not advise, for it is better for American teach- 
ers to learn, as they will have to teach, in their oion vernac- 
ular)^ let them go to this institution, which combines advan- 
tages not to be found in any other on the Continent. 

Kindergartening has not yet been made a matter of State 
patronage in Europe, except in Italy, — at Venice, Florence, 
Milan, and Naples ; and in a small degree at Rome, in con- 
nection with Mrs. Gould's Italo-American school. But in 
Austria it has been lately decreed by the Ministry of Ins- 
struction, that E'roebel's method shall be taught in every 
Normal school, to the teachers of all grades ; and that every 
child in the empire, between two and six years old, shall be 
prepared in a Kindergarten for the schools of instruction 
in reading, to which all must go at seven. 

But there are pi'ivate Kindergartens and training classes 
attached, in all the important towns of Germany, Norway 
Sweden, and in some places in Russia, France, and Spain 
One is at Lausanne, and one is at Geneva, 5 Chantepoulet 
Switzerland. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 23 

Dear Aunt Lizzie, — I was so taken up with telling you 
about the dear little sister that God gave to mamma to con- 
fort her when she was so very ill, I had no time to tell you 
about our Kindergarten. Mamma sent for Cousin Gretchen 
to come from Germany to make a Kindergarten for Harry, 
and Ben, and Georgie, and all the little children that live in 
our neighborhood. It is a kind of school, but not exactly ; 
because, in a Kindergarten, the children are all taken up 
with doing things, and telling how they did them; and what 
are the likenesses and differences of things ; and how con- 
trasts are connected together to make things. One of the 
best old men you ever heard of, who seemed to love children 
in the same way that God does, taught Cousin Gretchen 
how to do it. He said children were like flowers, and to 
bring them up properly, one must cultivate them to make 
them grow like flowers. Only in one thing children were 
not like flowers : flowers cannot do as they have a mind to, 
because they have no minds. They stay just where they 
are put, and do just what the gardener pleases, who knows 
what God intended about each one. But God gave to every 
child a will to make changes ; and they can always do two 
ways, — a wrong and a right way. If they do the right way, 
they make things pretty, and make their friends happy, and 
are useful, and everything goes right. But when they do 
wrong, they destroy things, and put everything into con- 
fusion, and nothing comes out right, not even their own 
playing ; for there is always a right way to play, and many 
wrong ways. 

Cousin Gretchen says that the great thing one learns in a 
Kindergarten is, to do right, and know what it is right to do. 
We cannot do right without we know, and we cannot know 
all the right ways without we are told; and so children are 
given to mammas at first, who tell them; and when tlieyget 
so large that their mammas have not time to be telling them, 



24 KINDERGARTEiX MESSENGER. 

Kindergartners take them and teach them. Only when they 
want to do right they can do as they please. 

Our Kindergarten is at the back of our garden, near some 
trees. Papa built it on purpose, because mamma said she 
had not strength to teach Harry and the twins, ihey were 
so boisterous, and needed companions of their own age. 
Cousin Ellen and I go, too. Papa said if there had been a 
Kindergarten for ns, when we were three years old, it would 
have been better for us than to have learned to read and 
write, as we did, before we had learned to think or to use 
our fingers to make things. But as we have already learnt 
to read and write, he is going to take us for an hour after 
breakfast, and hear us read, and help us to write our journ- 
als, in which we tell about Kindergarten the day before. I 
wrote in my journal to-day, "Kindergarten begins at ten 
o'clock. We have a table large enough for ten to sit at, in 
cunning little chairs, and the table is covered with painted 
lines that divide the top of it into inch squares, so that we 
may always lay our blocks, and planes, and sticks, exactly 
even, when we build or make beautiful figures, which we 
do for an hour every day, and sometimes a little longer. 
When we go in, in the morning, first we all go to our seats, 
and fold our hands, and shut our eyes, and sing: 

' Our Father who in heaven art, » 

Thy name we dearly love ; 
Thy will be done with all our heart 

As 'tis in heaven above; 
Give us this day our daily bread, 

Forgive the wrong we do; • 

And we'll forgive when treated ill, 

That we may be like you! 
Deliver us from doing wrong! 

When tempted we will think of Thee ! 
For thine the kingdom and the power 

And glory evermore shall be.' 

Then Cousin Gretchen talks with ns a few minutes about 
order, and sometimes tells us a story; or teaches us the 
words of a new play; or we sing do^ re, mx\ and Harry, 
who could not make the right diflTerence in the sounds a 
week ago,. can do so now ! " 

But I must tell you the rest another time, for my paper is 
all filled up. 

Tour affectionate niece, 

Fanny. 



ittd^tptten ^mm^tx. 



A Monthly of 24 pages. 
EDITED BY ELIZABETH P. PEABODY. 



No. 3. — JULY, 1873. 



Payments of $1.00 to be made to E. P. Peabody, 19 Follen Street, Cambridge. 
Specimen numbers and subscription paper to be seen at N. C. Peabody's 
HomcBopathic Pharmacy, 56 Beach Street, Boston; at B. Steigeb's Publishing 
House, 22 and 24 Frankfort Street, New York; and at Pdtnam & Sons' Book 
Store, corner 23rd Street and 4th Avenue, New York. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

IN my June issue, I requested that whoever did not subscribe, of 
those to whom I took the liberty to send the' first numbers of 
my new periodical, would return them by post. Both numbers 
would cost but a cent, and as I sent only to those who had express- 
ed interest in the subject to me, I thought I might ask so much of a 
favor. Only one person has returned the numbers, and many have 
sent me — with their own — the names of many subscribers. One 
gentleman sent twenty-five, and one lady twelve. 

Though I have not yet received subscriptions enough to pay the 
costs of the publication, the encouragement has been so great that 
I do not hesitate to go on ; and if I should have one thousand sub- 
scribers, I shall be able to devote all my best time to the work, and 
also to pay able contributors. 

A reliable source of information, to which all inquirers can be 
referred, whether parents, committees of education, or teachers 
who wish to teach on this new principle, seems to be the greatest 
necessity at the present moment. I shall endeavor to speak the 
truth according to Froebel, letter and spirit, and all who really be- 
lieve that this radical reformation of school education may go on, 
are earnestly invited to be volunteer agents to increase the sub- 
scription list. Let every subscriber get one more, and it is assured 
success. 

KINDERGARTEN NORMAL CliASS. 

MISS GARLAND will open a private class for training Kindergarten teachers 
in November. The number of students will be limited. A thorough Eng- 
lish education and general culture are indispensable qualifications for admission. 

Applications may be made at No. 98 Chestnut Street, between 1 and 3, p.m., 
every day but Saturday, till June 13. 

Summer address, Miss G-abland, Bristol, Conn. 



2 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

CHILD-GAEDENING AS A FBOFESSION. 

[Extract from a letter.] 

I HAVE no objection to any woman entering upon any pro- 
fession for which she has taste, abiHty, education, and leisure 
from family duties ; but these are paramount to all others, 
because the family life is the central source of human society. 
There are multitudes of women in every civilized community, 
who have this leisure, and are at present a heavy burden on 
it, or at best, make self-ornamenting their only profession, 
killing time by laboriously doing nothing. Such indeed are 
not even truly ornamental, which is a sin, for every woman 
should contribute to making human life and action " fine " by 
acting in the spirit of George Herbert's sweeper, instead of 
with less general, not to say selfish, reference. But such 
contribution involves an appropriate and full outworking of 
all her powers in the relation in which she finds herself; first 
in that of daughter (certainly a divine relation, because in- 
evitable and above her own will) ; and then in those relations 
providentially opening out of that one, namely, of sister and 
neighbor, which ramify according to circumstances into those 
of friend, citizen, patriot, and cosmopolitan thinker. The 
better the duties of the first intimate relations are performed, 
the more certainly are the energies of heart and mind, in- 
stead of being exhausted, renewed for the more compre- 
hensive ones; and the more generously these are, in their 
turn, entered into, the more are we prepared for the highest 
earthly relations — those of wife and mother — which are the 
complete initiation into " the communion of the just made 
perfect." 

In choosing one's profession one must have regard to one's 
individual turn of mind, temperament, abilities, and chances 
for the culture necessary to performing its specific duties 
perfectly, as well as to the Ideal common to humanity. 
When the natural bent, stimulated neither by worldly ambi- 
tion nor morbid conscience, is strong, and the corresponding 
ability great, they create their own chances of culture for 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 3 

special sciences and arts, as the biography of genius proves. 
But the greater the scope of a profession, the more rare is 
the combination that will ensure excellence. A mathema- 
tician, botanist, astronomer, or other naturalist, does not re- 
quire so various an endowment as the statesman, historian, 
or educator of youth. 

I think the combination of natural gift and culture requi- 
site to make an excellent kindergartner, is the rarest of all, 
even though the first of all its requirements, love of children^ 
is almost universal in innocent women. But to natural love 
of children must be added delicacy of feeling and observa- 
tion, quick sympathy, and a freedom from wilfulness and love 
of power in exact proportion to the sympathetic energy 
which is generally called the talent of governing, but is real- 
ly the power of inspiring children with true self-respect, and 
a very different thing from that brutal energy, which crushes 
and makes the child servile, or automatically obedient for the 
time being. You will say all this is born, and not made by 
culture — nascitur non fit. Pei'haps so; but because it is 
born in you, for instance, do not think it qualifies you for the 
profession of Kindergartening without a special culture be- 
sides. 

The study you have made of the principles of high art, 
with such creative artists as Dr. Rimmer, Mr. Hunt, and 
Mr. Webb, is just the most desirable culture for the work of 
directing the activity of little children in their play. The 
dance and plastic art are their first spontaneities; and those 
about them should know the laws of beautiful motion and 
formation, if they would vivify their assthetic nature in romp- 
ing with them, and superintending their mud pies. All the 
ground principles of architecture may be taught by Froebel's 
series of block gifts ; a thorough foundation laid for drawing 
with the motive of beauty, by the stick laying upon the 
squared surfaces of their tables, followed by their drawing in 
the net on their prepared slates and paper, if— but only if — 
they can have an artistic suggester and guide in the kinder- 



4 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

gartner; for this is just as necessary to intellectual growth, 
as is a loving and pious mother to moral and religous growth 
during the preintellectual, irresponsible age, when the child 
still lives her life. Artistic instincts, like love and conscience, 
are only developed by the exercises which are cherished by 
sympathy. The kindergartner's duty is to quicken the in- 
stinct, and give meaning to the words, by which she guides 
activity on all planes. 

Nor is anything you have acquired of science in your uni- 
versity course superfluous, nor even sufficient, unless it has 
given you scientific method, and a sense of the analogy 
of the sciences. Your mathematical acquisition will enable 
you to give children — not, indeed, the abstract science, for 
of that they are yet incapable (nor is it well to force the 
scientific faculty into existence), but the concrete experi- 
mental knowledge which makes a sensuous foundation for 
geometry and arithmetic, while the children are only con- 
scious of satisfactorily playing with their oblong, square, and 
triangular planes and sticks, and learn to describe the various 
shapes they make in words that are pictures, not abstract 
nouns. Tour knowledge of vegetable and animal physiology 
will suffice to enable you not only to form in children the hab- 
its of observation and knowledge of the vital laws of growth, 
which is the scientific mind, but by the fact that they are 
brought, in their own gardening of plants, to see God, as it 
were, working with them, in the production of flowers and 
fruits, a genial objectiveness is given to your religious educa- 
tion of them, which prevents it from degenerating into dry 
ritualism, or the words-— whose letter killeth, where their 
meaning does not make alive. 

As the laws, of which things are the exponents, are the 
laws of thought, your study of botany, according to the nat- 
ural method, has been an excellent preparation for the study 
most necessary to the kindergartner — the study oithe mind 
in all its workings and growth. Your own mind and the 
children's minds are living books, which you must peruse 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 5 

most carefully, guarding against the error of naistaking your 
own preconceptions for the real phenomena, but never for- 
getting that not only the phenomena are before your eyes, 
but if you have religious humility, God is present, inspiring 
you with knowledge of the laws of spiritual growth ; for the 
Holy Ghost is not lawless ! It is the Infinite Power recog- 
nizing wisdom and obeying love. You see I am answering 
your appeal for advice about the choice of a profession by 
stating to you what I think the profession of Kindergarten- 
ing may be. And I will confess it to be my purpose to set 
it forth as not only the highest profession which any human 
being can take up, but one to which only a woman is ade- 
quate, and she only when most highly cultivated ! Because 
you are better cultivated than almost any one I have ever 
known, I wish you to supplement your university course 
with the study of Froebel's Art and Science of Human Devel- 
opment. Your great lingual learning will enable you all the 
more profoundly, to teach children how to use and under- 
stand more and more continually the riches of their own ver- 
nacular. O do become a kindergartner, and be prepared to 
answer the call of earnest mothers to make a school of the 
true kind for traininsr kindergartners. 



GENUINE KINDERGARTENS -HOW TO BE SECURED. 
When I first began to work for genuine Kindergarten 
versus ignorant attempts at it, a gentleman said to me, " you 
must make up your mind to see the Kindergarten corrupted 
in this country ; for as soon as you shall have so stated the 
general advantages of Froebel's discipline as to make a de- 
mand for experiments, teachers of infant schools, who are 
incapable of comprehending the principle, and carrying it 
out in the details of practice, will seize on the name to attract 



6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

paying pupils. We are ages beliind the time when the ma- 
jority of people will condescend to learn that the child's soul 
is a fountain of laws, yet in the foi-m of instincts and blind 
feeling, but which can be so illumined by an orderly present- 
ation of nature, whose objects are exponents of laws, to the 
sensfes, that the mind shall escape that confusion and disor- 
der in which thinking usually begins. And therefore we 
are ages behind the time, when the saci'ilege of leaving little 
children to the ignorant and reckless, during these first pre- 
cious years of innocence, will be appreciated ; far less will the 
duty be felt, for a long time yet, of playing with the child 
according to the laws of high art." 

But I could not think so despairingly of the case. I thought 
our school committees every where were waking up, after 
our recent peril of national destruction, to see that national 
health and strength was not an accident, nor even a sponta- 
neous growth, but the result of careful human culture, ac- 
cording to divine laws, which could only be executed by free 
agents, thoughtful of principles, and responsible to the prov- 
idence, which is the concurrence of the divine with the finite 
righteousness. But our politics, and many of our municipal 
boards of education, seem reckless of righteous laws, and ab- 
sorbed in very low interests. Yet I do not despair; I believe 
in the hearts of parents, and that they may be awakened to 
ask themselves and others, if the second coming of Christ 
may not, like the first, take the form of infant humanity, re- 
ceived as the child of God rather than of man ; and watched 
over worshippingly by his parents, who, even while he is sub- 
ject to them, defer to his after intuition experience of being 
created to do a heavenly Father's business — as his supreme 
end. Is the old history to be forever repeated ; are the 
trees of the garden, that are goodly to the eyes, and to be 
desired for food, forever to draw attention away from the 
tree of life; so that it shall always be approached only 
through the death which the eating of forbidden fruit imme- 
diately brings ? The tree of life still grows hard by in the 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 7 

middle of the garden ; and offers its immortalizing fruits in 
the mothers' hearts, who dare to worship the holy things- 
born of them. To parents, then, I appeal, and especially to 
devout ones who know that the Holy Ghost forever broods 
over human birth. 

It has been suggested that every church, or religious soci- 
ety, of whatever name, should feel itself bound to support a 
Kindergarten for children of the neighborhood. Churches 
are more and more recognizing that religion is a social prin- 
ciple ; and providing parlors for informal social gatherings 
of their members. Why should not these be used, for a few 
hours in the mornings of the week days, for gatherings of the 
children of the neighborhood, who are too young to go even 
to the primary, public, or private schools ? Since children 
under seven years old cannot read at° all, and are yet inno- 
cent of the sectarian divisions which "the meddling intel- 
lect" makes; and all alike behold in their hearts the face of 
the Father in heaven, who created every child, as Montgom- 
ery says He created woman, 

" with a smile of grace, 

And left the smile that made her on her face." 

It is all the better that each neighborhood will send to the 
Kindergarten children of parents belonging to other churches 
than their own. We know one Kindergarten kept in a Uni- 
tarian vestry, by a Baptist kindergartner, who has children 
of all sects to teach the all-uniting doctrine of love, by the 
practice of loving one another, which all churches agree to 
be putting on the righteous robe of Christ. We know an- 
other Kindergarten kept in the vestry of an Episcopal church, 
by a Congregationalist, who is, perhaps, a Unitarian also; 
and we know of a Unitarian Charitable Society which has 
offered to gather into its parlor a Eandergarten of little 
Catholics from the streets, for a Roman Catholic teacher, 
trained by Mrs. Kriege. 

We think this plan of putting every Kindergarten under 



8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

the protecting wing of some religious society, may, perhaps, 
daunt the reckless adventurers, who presume that they can 
evolve a sufficient kindergarten method out of their own nar- 
row consciousness, without the help of the devout practical 
philosopher, who gave a lifetime of genius to the discovery 
and elaboration of God's method in nature. Nothing dis- 
courages me so much as the success with parents of these 
shallow and presumptuous " fools," who " rush in where an- 
gels fear to tread." 

The only remedy for this growing evil is Parents' Unions, 
that should meet to read and converse on the nature of child- 
hood, and the true method of beginning education. These 
Unions, meeting once a month, with the kindergartner per- 
haps, will inevitably learn to discriminate the true from the 
false teacher; the creator of order from the martinet; the 
inspirer from the quencher of life ; whether they be conscious 
or unconscious of their false position themselves. 

In these church-kindergartens there must be true kinder- 
gartners — of which, at present, there is not a sufficient sup- 
ply ; and so I return to my old cry. There is nothing so im- 
portant for this cause, which the Baroness Marenholtz well 
calls the regeneration of humanity^ as adequate schools for 
kindergartners all over the land. At present there are only 
two which are at all adequate — Mrs. Kriege's, in Boston, 
carried on during her absence by her able pupil, Miss 
Garland; and that of Mrs. Kraus (late Miss Boelte), in 
New York. Both of these can take but a limited number of 
pupils. 

N. B. I have had a note from Mrs. Kraus-Boelte, telling 
me that it was a mistake to say, as I did in my number for 
June, that Miss Blow was to open a class for training kin- 
dergartners in the Normal School of St. Louis, Mo., this/aZ^. 
" Miss Blow will begin, in the Normal School at St. Louis? 
under Mr. Harris, a Kindergarten ; but does not think of 
attempting a normal training school for kindergartners, as 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 9 

she is well aware, through her deep study with me, that no 
one is able to do tha% after only the study of one year." 

And with respect to another misstatement that I have 
made several times, though not, I think, in the pages of the 
Messbngee, she says : " I do not call myself a pupil of 
Madame Ronge ; I never was her pupil ; but I worked with 
her after having studied under and with the widow of Fried- 
rich Froebel, and received through her all those advantages, 
which only she, as Froebel's widow, can give." 



A EEGmNING HAS BEEllT MADE. 

BY MISS HENRIETTA NOA, OF THE MARY INSTITUTE, ST. LOUIS, MO. 

Mt director after repeated trials, I suppose, with mothers 
who wanted their children to be excused from these plays, 
because they seem to them too childish, said to me, one day, 
" will these little children, who so happily sing these songs, 
and play these Froebel plays, be more reasonable when they 
are mothers than their mothers are now ? Will they send 
their own children willingly, and see that it does them good 
to move and play in this artistic manner ? " My answer 
was, "make me responsible for their delight, both in the 
recollection of their own enjoyment, and in beholding their 
own children in such play and action. There are already in 
town many fathers and mothers, and many children, small 
and great, who by this time know the value of these songs 
and plays. The honor is due to Friedrich Froebel for 
this." 

Madame Johanna Goldschmidt, of Hamburg, holds the 
conviction indestructibly fast, after long observation and ex- 
periment, that young girls are happy and remain pure and 
peaceful to a ripe age, if you give them little children to love 
and to guide, such as the Kindergarten offers. And how 
may we better fulfil the great words of our time, let us ham 



10 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

mothers^ then by gently blending the society of little children 
and growing women; letting them know of each other's 
needs, and prove their mutual influence ? We want an open 
field to instruct young mothers how to treat their children, 
in idleness and health, and their infants in sickness and all 
healthy bodily needs. The Froebel-Verein and the Burger- 
Kindergarten, of Hamburg, may serve as an example of what 
we ought to aim at here in America. Young girls in Ham- 
burg are taught both practically and theoretically, in these 
institutions, all the plays and work, the occupation and treat- 
ment of little children ; not a work of routine merely, but to 
invent new means and ways, within the scope of the law of 
connecting contrasts into ever new units of beauty and con- 
venience. 'The public hospitals for children are also visited 
by them, I think twice every week; and they here see the 
nursing and washing of children. Here the handling and 
healing of little sick patients, is taught them, so that in exi- 
gencies, they will be able to help themselves and their chil- 
dren when they shall be mothers. 

Hitherto but little has been said to the young mother about 
the most anxious time, which begins soon after she is mar- 
ried. Do we wonder if the health and happiness, both of the 
mother and child, so often withers ? Is, perhaps, " ignorance 
bliss ? " I doubt it! Let us instruct the future mother; let 
us have an association of the young with the younger; but 
more yet, let us have the matrons, too. "We beg the expe- 
rienced mothers of every town to give scope, where young 
girls may play with children. As the vegetable and flower 
garden surrounds the house, so should the Kindergarten ev- 
erywhere surround the home. The mothers must be mothers 
to the gardeners of their children. Should not each mother 
say to the teacher, " be a sister to my child, and I will be a 
mother to you! " When will this com^ about? It is coming; 
the beginning has been made in Boston, by the Krieges and 
Miss Garland ; in New York, by Marie Boelte, now Mrs. 
Kraus; in Montclair, by Miss Macdaniel^ in Washington, 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. II 

by Emma Marwedel; and in St. Louis, also, something has 
been done, and there will be more done this winter, in the 
St. Louis Normal School, by Miss Blow. 



EmDEEGAETEN LITEEATTTEE. 

The first demand of all persons who get interested in the 
Kindergarten idea, is for books giving Froebel's own system ; 
and if the Parents' Unions, which have been proposed, are 
to be profitable, a part of the time should be given to a 
course of readings — say half an hour each time. We pro- 
pose, in this Messenger to give translations from "Froebel's 
Mtitter-TJnd-Kose-Songs," and also from his "Human Ed- 
ucation," which has been translated into French by Madame 
Crombrugghe — rather /ree^y — f*^^' it hardly admits of literal 
translation, and has been nearly rewritten in the last German 
edition, by his disciple. Dr. Lange, of Hamburg. 

Like Pythogoras, Socrates, and other great teachers of 
mankind, Froebel's strength was in the spoken, rather than 
written, word. It can never be sufficiently lamented, that a 
large manuscript volume of conversations with children and 
the Kindergartners he was training, taken down from his 
living lips at the moment, by his enthusiastic young auditor 
in Hamburg, now Mrs. Karl Schurz, was lost in the ex- 
press-post, just after his death ; for he had revised it with 
great delight, and felt it to be the most important report of 
him. By a singular fatality, too, his letters to the Baroness 
Marenholtz, which were being carried in her trunk on a 
journey, have been lost. A few letters to other persons are 
preserved, especially the autobiographical one to the Duke 
of Meiningen, and we shall hope to reprint them in the course 
of our publication. 

Next to Froebel, the greatest authority on the principles 
of his system is the Baroness Marenholtz-Bulow. One 



12 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

good statement of hers was translated for the Circular for 
July, 1873, of our National Bureau of Education. 

This is kept for gratuitous distribution, and may be had by 
addressing the clerk of the Bureau at Washington, or Com- 
missioner Eaton himself. 

Mrs. Kriege's " The Child and its Relations to Nature, 
Man, and God," is made up, as she modestly says, of trans- 
lations from the works of Froebel aud the Baroness Maren- 
holtz. This book, published by Steiger, of New York, has 
been very widely and favorably noticed, the most elaborate 
review of it being in the Michigan State Journal of Educa- 
tion^ and in The Western, and we shall hereafter reprint some 
passages from these articles, the latter being from the pen of 
Mr. Harris, the editor of the Speculative Meview, and also 
the great practical superintendent of the St. Louis schools. 

" The Child " settled his doubts, answering all his questions, 
respecting the value and feasibility of the Kindergarten, 
which ^he had previously questioned. Miss Garland used it, 
last winter, as a text book for her normal class, conversing 
upon every sentence, which had previously been studied by 
the young ladies. We think that it might follow the reading 
of the Circular above mentioned, at the meetings of the 
Parents' Unions. 

Sometimes the demand is for manuals of the practice. 
Milton Bradley, of Springfield, Mass., has published 
Professor Wiebe's practical guide, entitled "Paradise of 
Childhood," illustrated by plates, which is a translation, 
with considerable abridgements, of the German "Goldam- 
mer's Practical Guide," lately published in Berlin, with an 
introduction by the Baroness, from which Mr. Wiebe has 
largely borrowed, in the introductory lecture of his second 
edition. This « Paradise of Childhood" costs $ 3.00. 

" The Moral Culture of Infancy, and Kindergarten Guide," 
of Mrs. Mann and Miss Peabody, whose second revised edi- 
tion, Schermerhorn, 14 Bond Street, New York, publishes, 
contains the plays and original music of Froebel's Hamburg 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 3 

Kindergartens, with English words, and has been of much 
practical use in American homes, as well as Kindergartens. 
It costs % 1.25. Mr. Steiger has also published Dr. Adolph 
Doual's "Kindergarten," for $1.00, which has many addi- 
tional plays, set to music by him, and to words, both German 
and English. 

But I am obliged to take exception to this book, which has 
an introduction pi'oposing a plan of public Kindergartens, 
which much deteriorates Froebel's system, because, in order 
to accommodate large numbers, rote lessons are introduced, 
precisely opposite to Froebel's idea, who would have little 
children under seven years old, developed from within, rather 
than peremptorily instructed. I wish Dr. Doual could have 
respected the peculiarity of Froebel's infant Kindergarten, 
and not mingled it with later stages of education, as he has 
done, for instance, in his plan of teaching drawing, given in 
the Appendix, which is not Froebel's, though it has its value 
for older puj)ils. 

To have the perfection of Froebel's Kindergarten, not 
more than a dozen, or at most twenty, children should be 
put under one teacher, and the conversational method of 
development should be exclusively used, until they are seven 
years of age. This will be found the true economy of time 
and means, in the end. 

The most perfect practical guide is a French one, published 
in Bruxelles, by F. Claassen, 88 Rue de Madelaine. It is 
called " Le Jardin des Enfans." It purports to be by Jacobs, 
and has for preface an essay by the Baroness, who probably 
superintended the whole work. It has the most complete 
directions for all the occupations, and the largest number of 
plates, with the songs in French that direct the movement 
plays, set to music. There is a great advantage in having 
the children learn to sing the directing songs in French and 
in German, as well as in English. 

A translation of the Baroness Marenholtz's "Mission of 
Women," (which she conceives to be Kindergartening,) was 



14 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

made into English . by the Countess of Wickerode, and 
published by Darton, High Holborn, London, some years 
since, but is probably out of print now. Another work, a 
translation of which is being prepared for the press, is the 
Baroness Marenholtz's "Education by Labour." This con- 
tains the substance of the Lectures which she delivered, in a 
rather private way, to select audiences in Paris, in 1859. In 
the Appendix of it are letters written to her at the time by 
distinguished men, and the newspaper notices of the first at- 
tempts to inti'oduce Kindergarten to France and Belgium, of 
which we now append one or two, and shall in future num- 
bers give more of them. 

La Vte Surname, November, 1856 (journal of the Free- 
masons in Paris), heads the first of a series of articles on 
Froebel's method, introduced by Baroness Marenholtz, 
thus: 

" Triumph of Harmonious Education. — An unexpected progress ! 
Learned Germany sends us in full detail, the practical realization 
of a harmonious education, to which we have so long directed our 
attention. In Germany the conditions for a full development of the 
human being have long been a subject of thought; and it has been 
found that we must begin from the cradle, if we want to educate 
human beings, who must think and act according to the laws of 
universal development. The German Froebel, a deep thinker and 
naturalist, has discovered the method indicated by nature herself. 
France will be indebted to the Baroness Marenholtz for the intro- 
duction of this method. The Minister of Public Instruction ordered 
a committee to investigate the method, the report of which was 
very favorable, and several infant schools begin to adopt it." [An 
extract follows from a book of Baroness Marenholtz, "The Edu- 
cational Mission of Women ; " and, in conclusion, the article goes 
on to say] : " Eagerly as we have searched in France for the solu- 
tion of the great problem of Education, and many as have been the 
new ideas on the subject, and much light as eminent men have shed 
on it, the means of a complete solution, as Froebel's method offers 
it, have not been found. May they find full appreciation with us, 
and may Froebel's pupil and successor not have worked in vain 
amongst us. 

(Signed), "Riche Gardon." 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. ' 1 5 

Journal de Bruxelles (Orthodox Catholic), April 19, 1859: 

"The Kindergartens, created by Friedrich Troebel have beea 
introduced lately in France, They had the misfortune to be made 
a subject of comment by pupils of Fourier, who thought to find in 
them merely the theory of ' attractive work,' — a theory that wants 
childhood to walk on roses, to gambol in clear sunshine, and claims 
to educate nothing but prodigies. If an idea is proposed that 
promises to change human nature, and awakens unbounded confi- 
dence on the one hand, it is apt to awaken a deep distrust on the 
other. A system of education which means to place, instead of se- 
rious work and moral duties, an ideal harmony, and a levelling and 
smoothing of all existing contrasts and conflicts in human nature, 
we would at the outset protest against, as we should to the explod- 
ed theories of Rousseau's Emil. Having made these reservations, 
we must confess that Froebel recognizes the maxims of Fenelon, 
and has studied the nature of the child with deep penetration, and 
shapes its development accordingly. He leads the childish forces, 
by play, to a useful aim, without suppressing them, and gives order 
to individual activity, without violating individuality. The play of 
childhood becomes agreeable work, which serves for the physical 
and mental development. .... Froebel satisfies, therefore, 
the demands of childish development, first, by bodily exercises in 
gymnastic plays, which develop the limbs ; second, the demand for 
activity, by exercises which develop the five senses, and make the 
hands skilful ; third, the craving to produce, or create, by little 
works which awaken the love for art and industry; fourth, the 
craving for knowledge, by inciting them to observation, investiga- 
tion, and comparison; fifth, the desire of the child to plant, to work, 
and to fulfil little duties, which make order a habit ; sixth, the love 
for music, by songs and plays, which develop voice and ear ; sev- 
enth, the desire for social intercourse, by association with other 
children, from which proceed moral obligations ; eighth, the most 
interior craving of the soul, to find the cause of things — God." 

La Science des Meres^ a monthly for harmonious devel- 
ment, says, in one of the articles : 

'• The education for the community in the Kindergarten must be 
regarded as one of the most needed of the present time. The edu- 
cation in the family will not, however, be crowded out by it. On 
the contrary, it is aided by it; for it makes the physical and moral 
education of early childhood more complete. Froebel's method fur- 



I 6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

nishes the most efficient means to prepare for all branches of indus- 
try, agriculture, and art; and gives, with this, all that the mind of 
the child needs fur its earliest nutriment. The Kindergartens are 
a realization of the theories of ' Educational Colonies,' for which the 
means hitherto were wanting." 

Professor Raoux, in Switzerland, has written extensively 
on Froebel's method ; but, as his works are published, only 
one sentence, from one of his letters to the Baroness Maren- 
holtz, may find here a place : 

" I hold Froebel's method to be one of the most important discov- 
eries of our time, and the only adequate means to make the educa- 
tion of the masses possible. There should be nothing deemed more 
important than to bring these new means of culture into use, that 
the present young generation may not be ruined, body and soul, as 
is the case now, whereby innumerable human energies are lost to 
society." 

The Journal of the Department of Education in France, 
Jj ami de V Enfance^ No. 7, prints the following report of 
Monsieur Fillet, Chef de Division, in behalf of the Comite 
Centrale, that had to report on the practical experiment of 
introducing Froebel's system of education. [Extract from 
the report submitted to the Minister of the Interior] : 

" The committee has taken cognizance of the endeavors of Bar- 
oness Marenholtz to introduce Froebel's system of education in 
France. Monsieur le Ministre cheerfully gave permission to intro- 
duce it experimentally into the institution, Kue des Ursulines, No. 
10, after it had previously been introduced into several private estab- 
lishments. Under the guidance of the Baroness, the children have 
been instructed by a young teacher in the plays and occupations, 
under the supervision of the committee appointed. This experiment 
has led to the most happy results. The committee has become con- 
vinced that Froebel's method has the double advantage, firstly, of 
occupying the children, in developing their skill and intellect at the 
same time, and secondly, of counteracting the tendency of children 
to destruction, by developing construction and invention by their 
occupations." [Here follows a description of the occupations.] 

Further on it says : 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1/ 

"It is worth while to mention the many songs which accompany 
the plays, and prevent the often so disagreeably-loud screaming and 
yelling of children, and awakening the love of music; also the cul- 
tivation of little plots of ground, which is very advantageous, awak- 
ening love for nature, and preparing for agricultural pursuits. For 
this purpose a piece of ground is needed, which it may not be possi- 
ble to procure at all the infant schools. Flower-pots will, in some 
measure, supply this deficiency. It is certain that idleness is pre- 
vented by Froebel's occupations, and the powers of childhood have 
useful exercise. It has been observed that the manners and morals 
of the children who attended the school in Kue des Ursulines have 
very much improved, even of those who had before given trouble to 
the police. A result of three months. The love for order and clean- 
liness has been awakened ; and, it is to be hoped, that by the estab- 
ment of Kindergartens and youth gardens, a better future is in store 
for the working classes ; and that this new method of educating the 
human race will everywhere find acceptance. 

" The Commission advises that the Minister of Public Instruction 
shall cause that the ' occupations ' of Froebel be introduced into the 
infant schools, so that love for work and activity, the skill of the 
hand, the training of the eye, physical strength, and, in short, uni- 
versal preparation for industry and instruction of the children of the 
working classes may be gained." 

The minister has acted upon this suggestion cheerfully, and 
a piece of land, adjoining this institution, has been bought for a 
garden. 

The Journal des Debats, in a long article, speaking of " the 
opening " of this institution, concludes as follows : 

" The institution is opened to children of all creeds. There were 
present at its inauguration a Roman Catholic priest, a rabbi, and a 
Protestant minister. The latter, Mr. Coquerel, in an eloquent ad- 
dress, said : ' If anywhere intolerance is odious, in the education 
of children it is most odious. The different religious creeds in this 
institution, on the basis of humanity, will teach its pupils early in 
life that the love of God shall not serve to separate, but to unite 
men; and that the God of the Catholics, of the Protestants, and of 
the Jews, is essentially the same God.' " 



l8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 



BY EMMA C. WHIPPLE. 

I HOPE the 'Trotty Book,' by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, 
is familiar to your readers. ' Trotty,' himself, is known every- 
where^ thanks to the love and wisdom which doeth all things 
well, and everywhere may be described in the terms used by 
his biographer. Miss Phelps : 

" Grandmother says that he is a little pink daisy ; his bro- 
ther Max pronounces him a humbug ; Lill insists that he is a 
monkey ; and his mother will have it that he is a dewdrop ; 
Biddy inclines to the belief that he is a blessing ; Patrick de- 
nominates him the plague of his life ; while Cousin Ginevra, 
who has been to boarding school, and wears long curls, has 
several times informed me that he is such a little darling. 
At any rate, whatever he is, he had seen the May flowers 
grow pink, and the tassels of silk hang from the rustling corn, 
and the blood-red maple leaves fall, and the snow-flakes melt 
on his pretty pink hand three times." 

It is a great temptation to continue quoting from this life- 
like description of a bright child whose free, happy life has 
been as little spoiled as possible with unnecessary restric- 
tions, and whose self-activity had, even at that early age, led 
him into numberless catastrophies, which came very near be- 
ing tragedies. I am confident no surer cure for the dyspep- 
sia exists than the reading of the 'Trotty Book.' I have 
both taken and administered this prescription, and say to 
your readers, try it. But I wish to make a use of ' Trotty,' 
which his biographer never had in view. ' Trotty,' the irre- 
pressible, in his first four years, has quite put his mother to 
her wits' end to know how to manage him. She begins to 
fear he will be a dunce, and attempts to teach him to spell, 
by means of blocks with letters on them. The history of her 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER, I9 

attempts in that line will find many a parallel, and her deci- 
sion to send him, as a last resort, to Miss Pumpkin's school, 
is the history of thousands of mothers, who have felt that 
they were not equal to the task of finding a healthy, happy, 
rollicking four-year-old any occupation which was not likely 
to end in mischief, and have sent the little ones to school as 
the only safe place. Miss Pumpkin's school is quite as unob- 
jectionable as the larger number of schools for very young 
children, but all that Trotty gets out of his first day's expe- 
rience may be explained by the closing dialogue, on the dis- 
covery of some of the pieces of mischief which have been 
•perpetrated by poor Trotty during his first morning at school. 
Miss Pumpkin says, gravely : 

" You have made me a great deal of trouble, this morning. 
You must learn that little boys cannot play in school ; you 
may take your little rocking chair and go and sit alone, over 
there by the door, till I call you." 

We do not wonder that the next thing which happens is, 
that Miss Pumj)kin finds the little rocking-chair empty^ that 
Trotty is fiying homeward, and in reply to his grandmother's 
surprised exclamation, "Why, Trotty, school can't be out 
yet, you have not been gone an hour!" that Trotty should 
have come to the conclusion which he proceeded to express 
thus : 

" Oh, I do n't know 's I care if I have n't. I do n't like go- 
ing to school," ending his enumeration of reasons for such 
conclusions by, "I guess I b'lieve I'd rather grow up a 
dunce." 

Dear little Trotty ! your experience has been that of le- 
gions of Trottys, but if it had chanced to be a Kindergarten 
to which your baby-steps were turned on that eventful morn- 
ing, how differently the record of your biographer would 
read. If the teacher of our imagined Kindergarten should, 
in a good degree, have resembled the ideal of the beloved 
Froebel, whose name I hope, some day, little children shall 
be taught to lisp with blessings, how diflferent would have 



20 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

been your report to the grandmother who so tenderly sym- 
pathized in all your joys and sorrows. You would have told 
her of the teacher's loving greeting; of the sweet little hymn 
the children sang — 

" From the far blue heaven, 
Where the angels dwell, 
God looks down on children 
Whom he loves so well ; " 

then of the pretty flowers : of the little pot she gave to you 
for your own, to plant some seeds in ; of the slate, ruled in 
squares, on which she showed you how to make lines from ' 
" up to down ; " of the " folding lesson," which was, perhaps, 
the order of the day, and you would have rummaged your 
pockets for the "salt-cellar" you had made, all for dear 
grandmamma, only, perhaps, the kind teacher helped you 
fold it a little better than your small and unaccustomed fin- 
gers could at once do ; or, perhaps, it was a building lesson, 
and you will wisely descant on cubes, and their edges and 
corners and surfaces, until your acquirements, in one short 
morning, would have made grandmamma aud mamma look 
at each other with such admiring glances that it may be well 
for you, dear little man, that you did not take note of them 
in your eagerness to tell of the plays with the soft little balls, 
and how they played 'pigeon-house,' too, and you were a 
pigeon. But Trotty, darling, it is useless for us to try to ex- 
plain to grandmamma and mamma all that you would have 
had to tell. Little Johnny's grandmamma has been many, 
many times to a Kindergarten, and we will let her tell what 
she thinks about Kindergartens for Trottys. I hope you will 
ask all the mammas and grandmammas you know to read 
her " Thoughts on Kindergartens." She had them published 
in the Herald of JSealth^ a few months ago, but is anxious, 
for the sake of the little ones everywhere, that the beau- 
tiful Kindergarten may speedily take the place of Miss Pump- 
kin's school. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 21 

UOTHEE'S SONQ OF MEUE DELiaHT IN HEB BABE. 

FROM FEOEBEL'S "MUTTEE-UND K03B LIBDEB." 

Who can the mother's bliss express 

When playing with her infant boy ? 
Beaming with love, each fond caress, 
Thrills her and him with heavenly joy! 
The love more tender grows, and all foreseeing, 
. She cares for naught beside her child's well-being! 



My baby ! my baby, come whisper to me, 
What is it so dear and enchanting in thee? 
Why is it that dancing and tossing my boy 
Each instant discovers an ever-new joy? 
Crowned with the dews of the sweet morning hours 
Thy fair head is like to the fresh-budding flowers ; 
Unsoiled and sinless shines out thy young brow 
As stainless and pure as the new-fallen snow ; 
Thou art filling my heart with a joy rich and rare 
As the blossom sheds perfume abroad on the air. 

Mother's joy ! oh, deepest bliss, 

Awakening at her infant's kiss. 
Thy cheeks soft as velvet, so healthy and rosy. 
Are tinged with the glow of a midsummer posy; 
As shines the bright sun from the deep azure skies, 
So thy sunshiny spirit beams out of thine eyes ; 
Those innocent smiles that are flashing on me 
Gild with gold the firm chain that has bound me to thee ! 
Ah ! truly ray child, from the hour of thy birth, 
Thou wert less like a child than an angel on earth ! 
Already I see a foundation of strength. 
That shall conquer thy heaviest trials at length. 
Contained in the feeble, the germ of the strong, 
I can trace even now, in the form frail and young ; 
In feebleness sown thy future I see, 
Which gladdens my heart now so tender for thee. 
On my life has risen at midnoon a new morn, 
I'm purer and better since my darling was bom ; 
To tend thee — to cherish my glorious boy, 
'Tis peace, 'tis delight, 'tis holiest joy! 



22 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

LETTERS PROM A PROEBEL KINDERGARTEN AND NURSERY. 

Dear Aunt Lizzie, — Baby is two months' old to-day, 
and Cousin Gretchen and I go into mamma's chamber every 
afternoon, after dinner, to play with her, just waked up from 
her nap ; and Cousin Gretchen tells mamma what Froebel 
taught the mammas in Hamburg about playing with the 
baby. Wasn't it funny? But it was true that this good 
old man, who was invited to go to Hamburg, about two 
years before he died, to teach the people there how to live 
according to his motto, " Let us live for our children," open- 
ed, in his own house, a Kindergarten and a school for 
teachers of it, and a nursery and a school to teach nurses ! 
And he had a whole row of little cribs ; and the mammas 
carried their babes and their nurses to his house, and he 
taught the nurses how to play with the babies, so as to 
amuse them, but not tire them or do them other harm. Now 
we are not going to have any nurse for our baby, but mamma 
and I are to take care of her ; and Cousin Gretchen says 
every girl ought to know how to do this. For children very 
often do life-long injury to their little brothers and sisters, 
without knowing it, because they treat them as they do their 
pet kittens and birds — just as if babies did not have minds 
and souls from the very first ! 

Cousin Gretchen says a baby is a little angel, who has 
come from looking on the face of the Father in heaven ; and 
we ought to try and make everything on earth look to it, as 
much like the heavenly Father's face as possible. She says 
she thinks the reason the little things always smile so intelli- 
gently, when we smile at them, is because the love which 
shines out of our eyes does really look like the heavenly 
Father's face! Is not that a beautiful idea? I think it is 
very good of God to send us these dear little angels all the 
time for us to love ; and that He puts it into our thoughts to 
be angels to them ! Perhaps baby thinks mamma is God ! 
Mamma says she shall try that the mistake, if she does make 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 23 

it, shall do her no harm, and by-and-by, when she is older, 
she shall tell her how God gave her to mamma, and gave 
mamma to baby, and I think she certainly will love God all 
the quicker, if she thinks He is like mamma ! 

For a good while, baby was taken up in eating and sleep- 
ing ; and when she began to look about, she seemed to see 
nothing, only when a light came her eyes would follow that ; 
mamma said she thought almost everything looked alike 
to her, for she could not distinguish things yet. But a light 
is so different from anything else, that she could not help 
distinguishing that, and she liked to see one particular thing. 
Still, mamma would not let her look long at it ; for, she said 
staring at a bright point had a bad effect, and would stupefy 
the mind, as well as hurt her eyes. For a good while, 
baby could not take hold of anything; but mamma would 
put my little finger on her palm, and then she would shut 
her hand on it, and seemed to like to ; and would pull my 
finger up to her lips. Mamma said she did not want to eat 
it, for she had just had her fill of milk, but she wanted to 
know what it was ; and now, at her lips, touch was the most 
sensitive. It was very funny to see her play with her own 
fingers ; and she would take hold of her toes and pull them 
up towards her mouth, as if she wanted to eat them ! Mam- 
ma said these were her first playthings, and she would learn 
ever so much common sense by playing with her fingers and 
toes. 

Cousin Gretchen has a German book, full of pictures and 
songs, that Froebel made, and in it are a great many plays 
with the hands and feet; and already mamma and I have 
begun to learn them. The plays are of the same kind as 
' Pat-a-cake,' and * This little pig goes to market, this little 
pig stays at home,' which mamma says are baby's first lessons 
on objects. The first objects to be learned about are the 
parts of the body. The plays are gymnastics of the hands, 
and gymnastics of the legs, and baby learns the use of these 
limbs. 



24 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER, 

Mamma says the body is the baby's first house. It is the 
first mansion of the Father's house, which the soul is to live 
in. As soon as it gets a little acquainted with that, it will 
go into the next mansion, and that is this beautiful world ; 
and by-and-by it will go into the mansion which Jesus said 
he was going to prepare for those who live here, keeping 
hi^ commandments. 

Your affectionate neice, Fanny. 



We have, at last, received from Germany the letter we 
expected, upon the convention at Nordhausen, called to ef- 
fect a union of the Froebel-Verein. But it is a disappoint- 
ment. The Baroness Marenholtz was not there; probably 
because she had little desire to unite with some persons who 
were there, " who make it the main thing to extirpate from 
Froebel's system religion^ which alone gives it vitality, and 
enables the Divine breath to flow into His creation. They 
would educate skilful, clever little animals. But they will 
not prevail. The Baroness, and all that stand by her, will 
fight this atheistic tendency as long as they have breath." 

Our correspondent adds : 

"I liked Dr. Kohler, of Saxe Gotha, best of all the assembly. 
What he says is reasonable. He has something very benevolent 
about him, and has lately had great success in getting a hearing in 
Russia." 

We would be glad if all persons who keep Kindergarten 
in the United States according to the truth as it is in Froe- 
bel, would wi'ite to us and report of their successes, with all 
the circumstances of their Kindergartens. We would like 
to be able, at least quarterly, to make a report of the actual 
progress made in realization of this reform. Another year, 
when we hope our subscription list will give a large diffusion 
to our little periodical, it may be found profitable to adver- 
tise in our pages, and this may enable us to enlarge our 
borders. 



A dionthly of 24 pages. 
EDITED BY ELIZABETH P. PEABODT. 



No. 4. — AUGUST, 1873. 



Payments of $1.00 to be made to E. P. Peabody,^19 Follen Street, Cambridge. 
Specimen numbers and subscription paper to be seen at N. O. Peabody'8 
Homceopathio Pharmacy, 56 Beach Street, Boston; at E. Steigee's Publishing 
House, 22 and 24 Frankfort Street, New York; and at Pcjtnam & Sons' Boot 
Store, corner 23rd Street and 4th Avenue, New York. 



UNIVERSAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OP KINDERaARTEN PRINCIPLES. 

It was intimated in the July number of the Messenger, 
that, as children in the Kindergarten are to be treated like 
babes in the mother's arms, during the whole season of irre- 
sponsible, preintellectual life, when the understanding is in 
the act of being organized, and the heart and will are yet 
blind, — that is on principles which are identical, and there- 
fore more universal than respect the intellectual differences 
which make sects in religion and philosophy, — it would be 
practicable to spread Kindergartens all over the land, if each 
religious society should make itself responsible for a Kinder- 
garten for all the children in the neighborhood of its place 
X)f meeting. 

As it is to be taken for granted that every religious so- 
ciety is thoroughly persuaded, in its own mind, that what it 
is organized to propagate is vitally true, it will, of course, 
believe that kindergarten doctrines and method will bring 
children into its own fold only so far as they perceive the 
identity of its principles with their own. 

We propose, therefore, to speak in so many separate es- 
says, of Kindergarten in its relations of identity with Juda- 
ism, Catholicism, the several forms of Protestantism, and 
simple Theism, for persons of all religious persuasions, and 
even professed atheists of the positive philosophy school,, 
have, as a matter of fact, instinctively adopted kindergarten 



2 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

culture, to make it the foundation for their several educa- 
tional edifices; which suggests that it is the universxim to 
usher in the age for which the whole human race yearns, 
when " a young child shall lead " in the eternal harmonies, 
according to the Hebrew prophecy. (May not this be the 
very young child whom Jesas set in the midst of his disci- 
ples to instruct them how the height of " the greatest in the 
kingdom of heaven " is to be reached ?) 

Froebel was the son of a German protestant pastor, and 
his chief apostle, the Baronin Marenholz Bulow, is a Pro- 
testant. Nevertheless, Kindergarten began among Jews and 
Catholics as well as among Protestants. The first trium- 
phant public recognition of Froebel was made at Hamburg, 
in 1850, by a society composed of equal numbers of Chris- 
tian and Jewish ladies, who had united for the express pur- 
pose of finding ti-ue grounds of universal human union. 
And wherever and whenever Kindergartens have been in- 
troduced, Jews have patronized them ; for the same reasons, 
perhaps, that they are always attracted to music. 

Also, when in 1858-59, the Baroness went to Belgium and 
France, to lecture in a private way, not only Jews, Protest- 
ants, and Socialists accepted Froebel's system, but Catholics 
also; and instituted the first practical experiments that suc- 
ceeded in Paris and Brussels. 

In proof of this, we shall append more of the articles and 
letters we began to give in our last number, which we shall 
continue to publish in their appropriate connections. But, 
first we will speak, ourselves, of 

THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE KINDEEGAETEN AND THE 
SO-CALLED POSITIVE PHILOSOPHT. 

In the Circular of Information, published by the National 
Bureau of Education, last July, there was appended an ex- 
tract from Carl Schmidt's "Pedagogical Encyclopedia," on 
Kindergarten, in which he speaks of Froebel's " wrong pre- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 3 

mises," " confased foundations," "sickly and untenable theo- 
ries," &c., by which, as I have taken several occasions to say 
before, he means to indicate that Froebel grounds his system 
upon the Christian religion. And it is true that Froebel 
does assume Christ to be the revelation of absolute truth. 
The positive philosopher declares this to be one of his 
"sickly and untenable theories;" but, nevertheless, is con- 
strained to admit that " the merit will always be Froebel's, of 
having awakened interest in one of the most difficult fields 
of education;" and that "he has watched the nature of chil- 
dren in all its details, and even by those mistakes which 
have rendered a great part of his work vain, he has, never- 
theless, exercised a good influence. " * * " His words con- 
tain a hidden treasure that has not yet been raised ; a large 
number of deep and significant hints, as regards an infant's 
life, which, viewed from the right standpoint, would yield a 
rich pedagogical harvest." He says — " We do not mean to 
deny Froebel's moral amiability, his noble enthusiasm, or 
even his importance in the history of education," "All 
honor to the man who, with disinterested enthusiasm, has 
worked for the benefit of mankind." 

Now what is the common ground between Froebel and 
the positive philosophers, on which a practical Kindergarten 
for the children of both may be founded ? 

It is unquestionably this : That both lay down as a i^rinci- 
ple, that the appearances (phenomena) of material nature, 
apprehended by the senses of the child, are an indispensable 
factor of the human understanding, and that there is nothing 
in the intellect that has not been first in the sense. 

Both parties, therefore, will accept that part of Frobel's 
method which consists in the use of materials to develop the 
organs of sense, and define the perceptions of the similarities 
and difierences of the shape, color, size, position, number, 
&c., of things in nature, which are classified by these jsroper- 
ties, and serve to give definite, rational meaning to words 
with which they are spoken of. And that to understand the 



4 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

words of the vernacular language is the first momentum of 
the intellect, language being the element in which it lives 
and grows. 

The positive philosopher also admits, as well as the 
Christian, that human beings exist in relation to each other, 
and that it is the desirable experience for them to be in, or 
get into, such feelings with respect to each other, that they 
shall harmonize, and serve each other according to their mu- 
tual needs. He therefore accepts as a part of the true educa- 
tion, those playful social exercises of the Kindergarten, which 
accustom children to bear and forbear, and prefer one 
another in love, as well as to be" docile to their elders. Be- 
sides the occupations which build up the understanding on 
accurate sensuous impressions of nature, he will see the le- 
gitimacy and good influence of the movement plays, which, 
besides their use in developing the bodily organs and giving 
the limbs grace, agility, and skill, lay the healthy foundations 
of moral beauty and good. In short, the positive philoso- 
pher accepts Froebel's system because he does justice in it 
to the body and temporal life of man, in relation to material 
nature. 

THE RELATIONS OF JUDAISM AND THE KINDERGARTEN". 

The Jew finds still broader ground in Froebel's system 
than the positive philosopher, for he finds that Froebel not 
only revei'ently accepts material nature and the bodily life 
of man in time, but that he recognizes the child in his rela- 
tions with a Living God, who transcends the universe of 
matter, and makes it His footstool ; with individuals of the 
human race, also, who are all to be considered as persons 
created by him, that is, to whom He gives to live such life in 
themselves as makes them responsible to Him for their moral 
relation to each other. 

The law of rhythm, under which all " the beauteous forms 
of things" exist in nature and art, witnesses to the dualism 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 5 

of spirit as manifested by God, the intelligent creator and 
moral governor, and in man, endowed with reason and 
conscience, and, therefore, free, that is, able to obey the laws 
of Spirit. 

If the kindergarten exercises, whether intellectual or 
social, are adequately conducted by the kindergartner, the 
child will gradually become aware that there is a rhythmical 
law, which underlies all natural phenomena, and a golden 
moral rule under all social action ; both of which are inde- 
pendent of him, for he did not make them, and yet are so 
vitally within himself, that he only feels he has freedom and 
power when he obeys them. The kindergartner genially 
guides him to connect opposites, to produce an objective har- 
mony, whether by humming a tune, by moving symmetri- 
cally, or by making a symmetrical form ever so simple , and 
by giving this experience to a child, she vivifies his sense ot 
being a person, of whom the understanding of nature and 
recognition of beauty are not the essence, but functions. 
This self-respect as a person is correlative with the just re- 
cognition of other persons, and is satisfied only by the con- 
ception of a superior, intimately-related person, in whom he 
can live, and move, and have his being. It is the blessed- 
ness of a child to realize this conception at first in its mother, 
but it is moral strength to realize it in the Supreme Creator, 
Lawgiver, and righteous Judge. Now it has been said be- 
fore that the kindergarten exercises are an innocent playing 
at creation, which produces an experience that is the matrix 
of the conception of God going forth in nature, and express- 
ing himself by the things of nature. Surely this doctrine of 
the Hebrew does justice to nature and man in their relation 
to each other, quite as much as the view taken by the posi- 
tive philosopher, and more, for it quickens the human being 
to a consciousness of immortal life, which glorifies the human 
body and sets men on the throne of the universe, in a moral 
and spiritual harmony, as the Lord's anointed. 

The child enters, in a measure, into a realization of this 



6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

destiny when he spontaneously, or even willingly, resists his 
impulses to disorder in work or social play, in order to follow 
the light of law that shines into him — first, perhaps, through 
the spoken word and personal influence of his parent or kin- 
dergartner, but soon through the manifestation of the word 
of God in outward nature and sf»iritual-minded fellow beings. 
" Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is 
old, he will not depart from it," said tlie old Hebrew ; and 
Froebel's method realizes this instruction. Neither he, nor 
the wise king, meant by training^ an arbitrary forcing, a me- 
chanical moulding absolutely like the potter's, or a drilling 
like the stone cutter's. To train, respects the organic nature 
of the subject, as alive with law ; and this was the method 
of the true child of Abraham, who was neither Pharisee nor 
Sadducee nor Herodian, though we are too apt to think of 
the Hebrew religion under these degraded forms of it. 

RELATIONS OF KINDEEGARTEN AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

That the severe, though genial, intellectual, and moral 
method of the Kindergarten, should be acknowledged by the 
positive philosopher and Jew, with only some exceptions 
taken by the former to Froebel's religious faith, and that 
which it brings forth when the kindergartner devoutly sym- 
pathizes with him, would lead us to expect that it would be 
repudiated by the Catholic church. 

But though, in the early pai't of Froebel's career, he met 
with some opposition from Catholic priests, who, like the 
Pharisees of old, not ex^^ecting " any good to come out of 
Nazareth," denounced, before examining, his system; the 
intelligent Catholics of France met it with candor, and ac- 
cepted it when it was presented by the Baroness Maren- 
holtz-Bulow in all its fulness, as is proved by the letters then 
addressed to her that we give below. Catholic Bavaria, 
Italy, and even Spain, so far as it has been represented to 
them, have adopted it. Catholic Austria has indeed made it 
a national institution within the last year. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. / 

It is plain that liberal Catholics, in whom ecclesiasticism 
has not swallowed up nationality, find in Froebel's doctrine 
of the relation of mother and child, a recognition of the 
truth that they have held the symbol of through the ages — 
the holy mother of the holy child, worshipped by her in his 
unconscious infancy, and crowning her, in his triumph over 
death, — as the human counterpart of his Father in heaven, 
of whom his father on earth, the chaste hugband, is the 
image and natural priest. 

This is the positive and therefore true side of the Roman 
Catholic doctrine of the mother of the divine son of man 
which Protestants believe is made of none effect by the tra- 
ditions of men that have overlaid true historical facts, the 
simple apprehension and interpretation of which are an un- 
veiling (revelation) of the deepest counsels of God, with re- 
spect to his human children. But the holy child growing up 
in wisdom and stature, subject to his parents, redeeming the 
race to which he belongs, and the holy mother who guarded 
his childhood from profanation, accepting him as a manifest. 
ation of God, hold their own power over the whole Christian 
church, Protestant as well as Catholic ; nor do the symbols 
become less venerable, when seen to have j)re-existed in the 
symbolism of Egypt, Phcenicea, and Persia, and when it is real- 
ized that they reappear in every family on earthy when- 
ever a child is born. The dayspring from on high, though 
so often, alas! after a very brief moment beclouded from 
below, faileth never ! 

I will now giv« some of the letters, of which I spoke 
above, and must postpone till another number the considera- 
tion of the common ground of Froebel's gospel with that of 
the various Protestant churches. Every one of these 
churches had a good reason for being. What is affirmative in 
all philosophies and religions is divine truth. Their nega- 
tions are the shortcomings of the finite understanding, the dul- 
ness that comprehendeth it not. But I consider it an axiom 
that nobody believes what is false because it is false, but be- 



8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

cause it seems to them true ; and to find out how anything 
that seems to me false, seems true to another, has led me to 
"the light of all my seeing," and saved me, I think, from 
some errors which depress human courage, and quench hope 
and faith, if not charity. * 

translated from Appendix of " Education by Work." 

Morlot, Cardinal of Tours, afterwards the well-known 
and universally-honored Archbishop of Paris, is surely no 
unimportant testimony to Froebel's method, and especially 
for Catholics. 

The Baroness went to him as the President of the 
'f Comite de patronages des Salles d'Asyle," to obtain an in- 
troduction of the method into them, and was received in the 
most friendly manner. He acknowledged, in the warmest 
terms, the value of the method, and lamented . his want of 
time to enter more deeply into the ideas and views of Froe- 
bel, saying it was high time to improve all places for the 
education of the people, and to introduce the element of 
work. He admired the fine discernment of Froebel, shown 
in the materials that he had found so well adapted to the or- 
gans and powers of childhood. He wrote to her from 

Touus, July 24, 1859. 
"You are right; our 'Salles d'Asyle' [orphan asylums] are 
nothing else than institutions for the safe-keeping of children, in- 
stead of beginning with the important work of education there. 
Froebel's method supplies what is needed, and I trust your endeav- 
ors will meet with success in France. I beg you, Madame la Ba- 
ronne, not to doubt for a moment ray interest in the cause, and to 
keep me advised of all things relative to Froebel's method, which 
has found in you such an enlightened and devoted apostle. 
" With sincere admiration, 

your devoted, grateful servant, 

"fS. M., Cardinal- Bishop of Tours." 

On the 15th of August he wrote again : — 

"The Committee 'de patronage des Salles d'Asyle' does not 
meet again till the 1st of December. It is, therefore, impossible 
for me now to let them know of the important object which, with 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 9 

admirable zeal, you are striving for ; but I will endeavor, in another 
way, to accomplish that it shall be carefully tried by the Ministry 
of Instruction. It appears to me, that under that sanction, an ex- 
periment may be made in the Asylum of Mad. Pape-Carpentier; 
and that this is a good way to bring about the desired result. I 
beg of you, Baronne, not to doubt for an instant of my zeal ; and 
to keep me always informed of all that concerns Froebel's method, 
which has found in you so brilliant a representative, and such self- 
forgetting devotion. I am, with sincere respect, 

"Your humble and obliged servant, 
"tS. M., Cardinal- Bishop of Tours." 

The Abbe Mitraud, an aged Roman Catholic priest in 
Paris, author of voluminous works, one of them being " La 
Democratic et la Catholicisme," in which Froebel's method is 
mentioned, says also in a letter written while on a journey to 
Rome (July, 1858) :— 

" We have to fulfil a great mission in common; I shall be most 
happy to procure for Froebel's theory, which I accept fully, a hear- 
ing. To appreciate this theory in all its grandeur, richness, and 
utility, the shade of pantheism it seems to contain is no hindrance 
to me ; it seems inseparable from the German mind. I accept the 
obligation to work for the ideas of Froebel accoi'ding to my ability, 
of course within the limits of orthodox Catholicism, to which I am 
devoted from faith and reason. You must certainly go with me to 
Rome, that we may work together there. If you resolve to do so, 
I will meet you at Orleans. You would find in Rome a good oppor- 
tunity for propaganda. My friends there would aid us. But with- 
out your presence nothing can be done. Italy needs a regeneration 
by education. Let us work where the most rapid diffusion is cer- 
tain." 

Mon. A. Guyard, another Parisian author, says, June 14, 
1857:— 

" The more I hear you about Froebel's method the more my inter- 
est increases, and the deeper my conviction becomes that by this 
means the basis is laid for a new education for the salvation of hu- 
manity. Accept my warmest and most sincere wishes for the prop- 
agation of Froebel's method. He is great, perhaps the greatest 
philosopher of our time, and has found in you what all philosophers 
need, that is, a woman who understands him, who clothes him 



10 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

with flesh and blood, and makes him alive. I think, I heliem, in- 
deed, that an idea, in order to bear fruit, must have a father and a 
mother. Hitherto, all ideas have had only fathers. As Froebel's 
ideas are so likely to find mothers, they vpill have an immense suc- 
cess. When the ideas of the future will have become alive in de- 
voted women, the face of the world will be changed." 

Lamarche, of Paris, philanthropist and writer on social and 
religious subjects, after listening to the lectures which he at- 
tended regularly, writes on March 29, 1859 : — 

"Your last lecture has unmistakably shown that Froebel's 
method, in a religious point of view, surpasses everything that has 
hitherto been done in education. And this is the main point from 
which a method of education is to be judged, for its aim is to 
awaken love to God and to man — the foundation upon which 
Christianity rests. Education has hitherto done little to awaken 
this love of man in the young soul, from which all piety flows. 
That is the reason we find so much scepticism and iudifi'ereuce in 
human society, which is the source of most of the existing misery, 
of the want of order and lawfulness. These sad results are the 
condemnation of those methods of education that suppress the 
human faculties or force them into wrong channels, or arbitrarily 
superimpose something, instead of aiding free development. It is 
the sad mistake of our moralists, who, without faith in a Heavenly 
Father, do not understand human nature, and replace revealed relig- 
ion with human tenets. .- . . Froebel has found the missing 
truth, in first awakening the child's senses and capacities by the 
simplest means, and making him feel in nature the living Creator, 
before he taxes his intellect with religious dogmas, which are be- 
yond the intellect of childhood and only confase it. To lead it 
through the love of God, the heavenly Father of all of us, to the 
love of the neighbor, by acting and doing, is the natural and simple 
way which Froebel has pointed out, and we shall owe it to him if 
our children of four or five years old, before they can read books, 
learn the great law of humanity : Love to God and the Neighbor." 

Again he writes on April 4, 1859 : — 

" Convinced as I am, that the only way to arrive at a thorough 
regeneration of our sceptical, indiff'erent, irreligious, and corrupted 
society, is to begin with childhood and its development according 
to nature, I wish I could direct the attention of all the world, es- 
pecially of all mothers, to this method of Froebel which you prop- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. II 

agate with so much zeal. The establishment of a single true Kin- 
dergarten in Paris would be an event of the highest importance, in 
which all those should take an interest who are able to understand 
the iucalculable consequences of an education which recognizes the 
human being truly according to the intentions of the Divine Cre- 
ator; and which understands the laws of Divine Providence, and 
takes them into account as producing that harmony in human life 
which is the kingdom of God on earth." 

"Proebel's discovery, or invention, furnishes the means to follow 
the natural order of all development for human beings, by which 
alone they will come to the knowledge of and at last to union with 
their heavenly Father. This is the way which Christianity prescribed 
eighteen hundred years ago, but into which education has not under- 
stood how to lead us, because it has put statutes instead of actual 
experience, and has not let the study of nature, as the work of God, 
precede statutes. Froebel leads education again into the path in- 
tended by God, which, in the course of universal development, will 
lead to the happiness of the individual as well as of the whole of 
society. In the human being itself are the rich mines, the develop- 
ment of which our false modes of education have hitherto made 
impossible. May mothers have faith in God, the heavenly Father 
of their children, and trust that he has given them the capacity for 
good which will crush the head of the serpent, and bring the king- 
dom of God upon earth." 

Michelet writes from Paris, 27th March, 1859 :— 

" By a stroke of genius (par un coup de genie) Froebel has 
found what the wise men of all times have sought in vain : the so- 
lution of the problem of human education." And again: "Your 
fi^rst explanations made it clear to me that Froebel has laid the nec- 
essary basis for a new education for the present and future. 
Froebel looks at human beings in a new light, and finds the means 
to develop them according to natural laws, as heretofore has never 
been done. I am your most faithful advocate, and speak constant- 
ly with friends and acquaintances about this great work that you 
have undertaken. Several journalists and writers will mention it 
in their papers. Dispose of all in my power to aid you. The am- 
bassador of Hayti, Mous. Ardoin, formerly Minister of Instruction, 
is ready to return to Port au Prince, and wishes to make your ac- 
quaintance. He will come to see you to-morrow. For the inhabi- 
tants of that island, in process of reorganization, Froebel's method 
may do a great deal. I have asked several persons to aid in this 



12 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

work. Niffzer and Dolfus are writing, at present, a great work on 
education, and will be liappy to give a place to your cause. I send 
you a letter for Isidore Cohen; you must see him. You, person- 
ally, can do more than all speeches, recommendations, and writings 
together. I shall come to you shortly to hear more about Froebel. 
I would like to have a comparison drawn between him and Pesta- 
lozzi. Your written communications interest me highly. Let me 
have some German works about Froebel; I read German and know 
how to guess at incomprehensible things. I would like to know 
about the continuation of his method for more advanced years, es- 
pecially for girls, and await impatiently the appearance of your 
Manual. The more I investigate the heads of children of different 
ages, the more important Froebel's method appears to me, as it 
begins in earliest childhood, when the most important changes in 
the brain take place. All my sympathies are with your work." 

Dr. Laverdant, an author and a Professor of Physics, 
writes from Paris, March 4, 1856 : — 

" The audience which will meet at your lecture, will consist of 
Catholics and half-Catholics, of some Phalansterists or Tourierites, 
who know very well how to estimate at its real value, and without 
prejudice, the providential significance of the Virgin mother; also 
of some rationalistic Protestants, and finally of a great many 
artists, in respect to whom it would be advisable to refer to the 
bond Froebel's method makes between the beautiful and the eter- 
nally true and good. I should especially wish to see the following 
points made prominent in the lecture :— 1st. The influence of pure 
women who do not hinder the child from going to Christ, and re- 
ceiving the influence of the example of the Virgin mother. 2d. 
The appropriateness or need of unfolding in the child the natural 
wants, and the divine Impulses, and of observing or leading it on 
without constraint from the very cradle. 3d. How the method of 
Froebel unfolds the natural, artistic, and creative aptitudes." 

In another letter M. Laverdant says: — 

" Paris, May 26, 1856. 
"Your educational method satisfies me on all sides more and 
more, only I find it necessary for us Catholics to carry out the re- 
ligious side of it in our sense. You are entirely right that the re- 
ligious element cannot be attended to earlier than is done by Froe- 
bel, who refers to the Creator in the very first years through the 
phenomena of nature, and the like. Nevertheless, it appears to me 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 3 

that in the succeeding years,* the real woi'ship of God, in our 
Catholic sense, is not sufficiently represented. I liave found excel- 
lent things in your article, especially what concerns the earliest 
employments of children, and the first gymnastics for childish 
limbs, which I look upon as of the utmost importance, and the in- 
troduction of which, in Froebel's manner, I earnestly advocate. 
These are new revelations about the being of childhood which 
Froebel has discovered for us. 

" The asylum of Madame Pape-Carpentier wiU do all that is pos- 
sible to introduce the method. 

" Have patience and courage, even if the cause goes forward bat 
slowly. God is with you, and the Holy Virgin follows your steps. 
But how sad that even you, who illustrate the beautiful words of 
your Goethe — 

" The eternally womanly tends heavenward," — 

do not also acknowledge the mystic significance of the Mother of 
God in the Catholic church! But here also patience! The moment 
will come in which we shall not only work together, but shall also 
pray in common! " 

"Laverdant." 

Riche-Gardon, savant and editor, in Paris, had already- 
written thus, as long before as May 15, 1856: — 

" By Froebel's method a new era will be won for education. Of 
this I am certain — the old methods suffice no longer ; we need the 
new one for the present time, and for moral and religious progress. 
Froebel has laid the foundations of the harmonious and rational de- 
velopment of the human being, and we may consider ourselves for- 
tunate to have known him through you We must lay 

the foundation in Paris for continuous courses of lectures on the 
method. I have sketched out a plan for the purpose, which I will 
communicate to you. My journal, "La Science des Meres," (as you 
lately called Froebel's method,) will serve for the wider spread of 
the truth. ... I shall not cease to speak of your cause and to 
spread it, and would gladly be able to lighten the burden of your 
weighty apostolite." 



* This refers to the youth's garden that follows the kindergarten. 



14 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

SHALL CHILDREN PLAY? 

BY MISS HENRIETTA NOA. 

Not only should children play, but the grown up should 
become little children, and j^lay with them. The fall from 
childhood's paradise begins painfully early in these modern 
times. J. J. Rousseau says, " If it be a rare thing to see a 
perfect man, it is rarer still to see a perfect child." 

Full harmony of perfect contentment the child finds only 
in play, as the man finds it in his earnest work ; for play is 
the child's earnest. When undisturbed in full play, the 
child is the most beautiful thing on earth; and when we 
unite, by blending all ages in recreation — bodily and men- 
tal relaxation from effort — we create a sphere in which the 
different ages act out what truly belongs to each age ; and 
every child remains childlike. The mimicry of life — " sick- 
lied o'er with the pale cast of thought," spoils the older — 
how should it not the younger people and children ? Who 
lives nowadays for life's sake ? Not even a child ! 

Life is content in being alive. As consciousness betrays 
its seed through life and labor, the early play of childhood 
is always worked out and woven into bodily activity. Shall 
we not therefore play with our children, as motherly wisdom 
directs ? Why are we so anxious to instruct and fully en- 
lighten their minds with our knowledge ? Why not blend 
soul with soul in play, for the deeper amalgamation and 
growth of deepest, fullest, truest being. O, for play in life i 
Instead of so laboring to live, we ought to play and dance 
through life, which is to become artists of time and existence. 
So we touch the heart of the forming child, and it learns of us. 
To form with desire and imagination varied plays and con- 
structions, is the most entrancing pleasure life presents to 
child, youth, or mature age. And of all soul-developing 
means, music (song and play united,) is the first and most 
efficient. It is the natural impulse, and yet the most ingeni- 
ous invention, to blend movement and song in play. In this 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 5 

spontaneous outpouring of the inner life, the child triumphs 
and the regeneration of the old goes on — the old becomes 
young, and the child is truly child. If you would have your 
children children, see that they play in the right way ; and 
learn to j^lay with them, if you would become " little chil- 
dren" yourselves. 
Maky Institute, St. Louis, July, 1873. 



TELLIN& THE TRUTH. 

[Extract from an article in " The Western," by Miss Anna G. Bbackett.] 

how shall we teach a eegaed foe truth. 

"And first, it is evident that to secure truth-telling, we 
must secure the conviction of the child. The pressure must 
come from within, and not from without. No amount of 
punishment of any kind will accomj)lish the end desired. 
The means are not adapted to the end, and consequently no 
result is obtained. An outward comj)liance with our desires 
we may obtain by an external force. We may make the 
child sit still, and refrain fi*om whispering, and learn his les- 
sons, that is, so far as the words are concerned, but to make 
him adhere to the ti'uth by outside regulations or pressure is 
as useless as it would be, forcibly to draw out the cotyledons 
of the seed from their envelope and then to assert that we 
had made it grow. 

" How shall we touch the inner springs ? To some sensi- 
tive child it may be sufficient to say that it is wrong to tell 
a lie ; but the notion of wrong is a very abstract conception 
to a child, and the one who would appreciate the force of 
the reason would not be likely to need it. To tell a child 
that he must tell the truth because his friends will not love 
him if he does not, is open to the same objection, besides be- 
ing in a strain of sentimentality, which the average Ameri- 
can boy does not appreciate, at least for some years of his 
life. To endeavor to appeal to his fear by the style of 



1 6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

stories found in many books, of which the typical one may 
be considered the story of Ananias and Sapphira, is worse 
than useless. He knows better than that. He knows per. 
fectly well that the boy who lies is not struck dead and 'does 
not get drowned or burned to death, and, moreover, he 
knows that his teacher knows it, too, and that she herself 
does not believe it, and hence her story, instead of being a 
lesson in truth is one in falsehood. 

Now, on what shall the argument rest ? Putting aside for 
one instant the thought that we are to speak to children, for 
which a means may afterwards be found, the argument, it 
seems to me, will stand thus: Man alone, isolated, is the 
most helpless of all created beings ; as has been truly and 
beautifully said, his first utterance is a cry for help, for by it 
is expressed the necessity of his spiritual nature for aid from 
without. 

Without companionship he sinks lower than the brutes 
and would never become civilized, would never become even 
human. Only by combination, by union with his fellows has 
he accomplished whatever he has accomplished. By union 
he has created institutions of all kinds. Through the insti- 
tution of the family his brute instincts become spiritualized, 
and instead of degrading him, elevate him to a standard he 
could never have reached without them. 

Extending his combination he clusters families together 
and forms society, which still further forces him to govern 
his original nature and thus elevates him higher. Again 
combining, and consciously accepting the results of the new 
combination, we have towns and cities — the State, which 
renders possible all achievements. The strength of one is 
almost omnipotent when reinforced by the strength of all. 
Arts and sciences spring to life, and as this combination be- 
comes more and more organic, greater and greater achieve- 
ments are possible, till man, formerly the slave of n^ure and 
subject to all her whims and caprices, holds sway over her as 
master, and makes them serve his will. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 7 

But what lies at the foundation of this union, which is the 
indisputable condition of civilization of institutions of art, 
of science, of religion ? Its foundation is mutual confidence 
and trust. Destroy this utterly, and union is impossible. 
Even a band of robbers must have some confidence in each 
other, however slight, or they would cease to be a band. 
All society, all business transactions are built upon this. 
Whoever violates his word, does what in him lies, to destroy 
this confidence, and throws all the influence he possesses, 
whether it be great or small, for barbarism, and against civil- 
ization. In so far, he sunders himself from society, and de- 
prives himself of its reinforcing strength. In so far as in 
him lies, he cuts himself loose from the aid and support of 
his fellows. . This is an argument, the force of which is self- 
evident. No one who can appreciate it, can fail to see that 
in departing from the truth he is jDcrforming the most self- 
contradictory of acts, and losing more than he can possibly 
gain. 

But such reasoning will not do for children; abstract truth 
must be put in symbolic form that it may be perceived. 
Stories are not wanting, which were written to convey just 
this argument. They will readily occur or may be readily 
invented. The application may or may not be made. The 
story will take care of itself, and will bear fruit. The best 
and most complete of these is the old story of the shepherd 
boy, who ci'ied " wolf, wolf," when the wolf was not there, 
in order to laugh at the shepherds who hastened to help and 
save him, and who, after trying their good nature over and 
over again, tried it once too often, so that when the wolf 
really came, he was obliged, in consequence of their disbe- 
lieving his cry, to oppose his unaided strength to the attack, 
and was of course destroyed. This story is reasonable, and 
is appreciated even by little children, while it contains so 
deep a truth that older ones may be also interested in it, and 
many of those who have long since graduated from school 
may well afford to study its lessons. The child will listen to 



1 8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

it, and if well told, it will sink into his memory like the liv- 
ing seed into the ground in spring-time. He will not forget 
it. All that he is able to take of its meaning, he will assim- 
ilate, but as he grows older it will more and more develop all 
that it holds. 



[From, " Chambers' Journal." ] 

A SPIRIT entered at our door, 

In fairest vestiments of clay ; 
The lamp was lit, the board was spread, 
And we entreated it to stay ; — 
But voiceless as the phau torn came, 
So voicelessly it passed away ! 

It knew us not — we knew it not — 

How could we hope to penetrate 

The robe of perfect silence, which 

Upon its limbs unwrinkled sate ? 

The robe whose borders caught the sheen 

That glows beneath the goldeu^ate ! 

Weak words were ours ; vague forms of thought. 

Which wrestled with the striving sense ; 
Her solemn eyes looked straight in ours, 
The pure lids raised in fair suspense ; 
Our language was the speech of flesh. 
And her's — the angel's reticence ! 



She did not know us ! O, so young ! 
She would not answer to our call; 
But heaven, which sealed her baby tongue. 
Ordained the flower's life and fall ; 
And in its stainless vision — yet 
Our darling may remember all ! 

"Who can doubt that these heart-touching lines came from 
a living human heart, trembling from the touch of the Infi- 
nite Father's Word, clothed in flesh to reveal His very pres- 
ent love ? " He that receiveth a little child in my name, 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 9 

receiveth me ; and he that receiveth me, receiveth Him that 
sent me." 

Even a flower of the field in its little life vivifies something 
eternal in the sj)ectator, who delights in its passing beauty ; 
and are those human lives futile which, like this baby's, 
touched the parents' hearts with so deep a sense of immor- 
tality, as to quicken thought to the height of heaven ? 

Not always do the children who live to commune with us 
" in the speech of flesh," do so much for us as those who pass 
away in " the angel's reticence," after having looked straight 
into our eyes with their "solemn" ones, — 

" The pure lids raised in fair suspense." 

But that is our fault ; because we do not sufficiently con- 
sider the little child which Christ is always setting in our 
midst as a living revelation of what makes " the greatest in 
the kingdom of Heaven." We are in such a hurry to thrust 
our " weak words " — our own finite knowledge — our own 
dry abstractions and narrow generalizations ujDon these little 
ones, that we omit to find the lesson God would teach 
us by their expressive innocence. We do not endeavor to 
hold communion with — but rather to talk to them. Thus 
we lose the advantage of conversing with the pure spirit in 
that language of countenance and gesture, which is intui- 
tively used by the child, as well as understood by a mother 
who is conscious that her spirit is for a certain time the ma- 
trix of the child's spirit, as well as her body of the child's body. 

It is this pre-intellectual season of the child's life, when 
its moral and religious education is to be effectually begun, by 
the faith and love of the mother and child with respect to 
each other ; or, when the mother fails, between an adequate 
nurse and child. Alas ! for those poor children who are left 
to the chances of absolute motherlessness, and yet do not at 
once return to the heavenly mansions of the Father ! Is not 
such orphanage a mystery, which can only be solved by the 
Faith that has penetrated the mystery of the redeeming 
power of Christ 's passion ? 



20 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

We leam our duty to fellow-man only by his extremity, 
which God offers as our opportunity to enter into the life of 
active love. Goethe says, " Our children teach us what our 
parents omitted ; " and thus the social relation vindicates and 
reveals the eternal mercy which it seems, at first, to throw 
into doubt. The serpent's head is to be crushed by woman, 
when she becomes the true mother of God — in man. Mother- 
hood restores what frivolity and forgetfuhiess — distrust of 
the goodness of God commanding the denial of self — so often 
loses. 



LETTER FOITETH, PSOM A FSOEBEL KINDERGARTEN. 

Deae Auxt Lizzy, — Yes, we have an order of exercises 
in our Kindergarten. We sing our prayer, or some hymn 
every day, and have a little singing besides, of do^ re, 
mi ; and almost every day we sing one of the songs for play, 
or repeat the words, for there are a gi-eat many of these to 
be learnt. But very often that is put off till just before we 
have the play. 

And while we are all fresh, and not tired at all, we have 
either building with the solid blocks, or laying the forms of 
knowledge and beauty with planes, or laying of sticks so as 
to make outlines of buildings and other things, on our ta- 
bles ; or we have slats that we interlace ; or ring's and parts 
of rings that we place in beautiful ways to make anything 
we fancy ; and one day we use the sticks in little games that 
teach us how to add and subtract, or multiply and divide. 
But the little children don't know that they are learning 
arithmetic till they have learnt to manage quite large num- 
bers. Cousin Gretchen says, by and by, when we come to 
leani geometry and arithmetic at school, we shall find that 
it is ever so much easier, on account of all that we have done 
in these pretty games with the squares and triangles and 
cubes and oblongs and lines. Tou see we have to compare 
these things, and leam about their lengths and breadths and 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 21 

heights, and the shapes of their corners, which are different 
kinds of angles, and it is very pretty to measure the angles 
of our planes by putting corners together in different ways, 
and laying the circles and arcs of circles upon them. Some 
of these games she calls making forms of knowledge. We 
generally take ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour some- 
times, to examine the things and get knowledge of their 
forms before we make other things with them. It is some- 
times very funny to hear the little children explain what 
they have made. They have so much imagination that their 
block or plane or stick will be anything they have the mind 
to " make believe." They begin with making two chairs out 
of the blocks of the third Gift, and Cousin Gretchen gives 
directions at first. She says that is a very important thing 
to do, so that they may learn exactly what is meant by right 
and left, back and front, upper, under, and all such words ; 
and she very often lets one of the children direct the others, 
so that we may learn to use words correctly, and talk in neat 
sentences, as I heard her tell papa. But I thought it was 
only to please us, for we all like to be directors. When we 
make the forms of beauty it is very necessary to have a di- 
rector, because these must be made by regularly finding the 
opposites ; and so we have to take time and go on carefully, 
or the forms do not come out right. But it is real fun to 
invent^ and even the smallest children have began to invent. 
.With the circles, the children make angels ! The semicir- 
cles are good for wings, and the circles for heads and bodies. 
Making angels was entirely the invention of the little chil- 
dren ! Cousin Gretchen says she never thought of it ; and 
when she first came to look at them, she could not guess 
what they were. It was Ernest who made the first angel. 
He said it was the angel that took away his little sister to 
heaven when she died. Harry said he thought the angel 
was very fat, its body and head looked just alike! — but the 
half-circles made nice wings. There were wings for arms, 
and wings for feet. Cousin Gretchen said she thought it was 



22 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

a beautiful angel, and it was very kind in God to send His 
angels after poor little babies when their bodies were full of 
pain and all out of order. Ernest told Harry -that lie had 
seen pictures of angels that had nothing but heads and 
wings. These exercises each come once a week you see — 
and they last about half an hour — so we have no time to 
get tired of them, and are always glad to see the materials 
again. On building day, when the little ones begin to in- 
vent, Cousin Gretchen lets Ellen and me (who have a higher 
desk of our own,) play with the fifth Gift, directing us how 
to build beautiful fa9ades and houses, such as she has in her 
book, which is a French one, named Le Jardin des JEnfans^ 
She does not let us have the book, but she tells us exactly 
how to put every block : first to lay the foundation, and then 
to make the superstructure. We have to be very careful to 
observe the words she uses, and the order in which the 
blocks are laid, because the next time we must make it all 
ourselves, one of us directing the others. She told papa, one 
day, that this would teach us all the great principles of 
architecture in the course of time. Now, after all, I have 
only told you what we do in Kindergarten the first hour in 
the morning, from nine to ten o'clock ! But I cannot write 
any more, I have filled up two sheets. , 

Your afiectionate niece, 

Fanny. 



"To find a fresh soul — is it not like brooding a fresh (ce- 
lestial) ^^g^ wherein as yet all is formless, powerless ; yet by 
degrees organic elements and fires shoot through the watery 
albumen ; and out of vague sensation grows Thought, grows 
Force and Fantasy; and we have Philosophies, Dynasties, 
nay, Poetries and Religions." — Carlyle. 



* Published in Brussels by F. Claassen, 88 Rue de la Madeleine. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER, 23 

MOTHEE'S SONG, ON THE FIRST SIGHT OP HER BABE. 

Translated from " Mutter-und-Kose Lieder." 

God ! dear God! in crowning me a wife, 
Thou'st flooded me with sweetest joys of life ! 
And now this angel Thou hast sent to me, 
No greater gift is left to come from Thee ! 

For this fair token of divinest love, 

O husband ! father ! thank our God above ; 

All for eternity that makes us one, 

We find in this — our darling first-born son. 

Thou crown and sweet renewal of our life, 
How may we guard thee 'mid earth's evil strife? 
Though born in pain, thou surely now shalt rest, 
My blessed child, upon thy mother's breast. 

O God, our Father ! Life's perennial Source ! 

Wilt Thou not grant that straight may be his course ! 

We all Thy children are : oh, let one love 

Unite us now with Thee in heaven above ! 



MOTHER'S SONG TO THE BABE. 

In her sense of vital union with it. 

O baby! my little one, joyous and gay, 

What do thy smiles to my heart seem to say? 

Thy glance chases far from my bosom each shadow. 

Like Spring's early sunshine first lighting the meadow. 

Faith gleams in the shine of thy happy blue eye : 

" What harm can befall me when mother is nigh? " 
Sweet love overfiows in thy laugh, low and bright : 

"In union with thee, mother dear, is delight." 
And hope in the clasp of those hands is expressed : 

" The strength of my being I find at thy breast." 
Come, little one, come, and in mother confide ! 
Hand in hand we'll encounter the world's stormy tide. 
Whatever, my child, thou receiv'st from another, 
Be sure 'tis love only thou'lt find in thy mother ; 
And one day thou'lt tell me, "My hope, love, and faith 
Thou hast tended and nurtured, since first I drew breath. 
And daily I'll pray that thy faith, hope, and love 
May illumine thy childhood, and crown thee above 1 



24 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

MOTHER'S SONG. 

\Frcym Froehel's " Mutter-und-Kose Lieder."] 

Watching the daily progress of her child, 
The mother prays, " God keep him undeflled; 
Oh, guard him when the tempest rages wild ! " 

Meanwhile she does her best ; 

And on the All-father's breast, 

Confidingly doth rest ! 



Oh, come and see my little one, 

A flower just opening to the sun ! 

The curly pate, so round and fair ; 

The forehead smooth — untouched by care ! 

Bright are my baby's eyes ; for mothei''s song 

He '11 prick his little ears to list' ere long ; 

His little nose shall smell the fragrant flowers ; 

His mouth sip milk at morn and evening hours ; 

Dinted by laughing dimples without number, 

His rosy cheeks are warm with noonday slumber. 

Ah ! so fair and bright is he. 

Shall he not my treasui'e be ? 
His hands he learns to ope' and clasp ; 
His fingers just begin to grasp ; 
He seizes now the bright red ball, 
And learns to hold — nor let it fall. 
So strong my baby's arms have grown, 
That he can move them up and down ; 
Ah ! soon my darling will be able 
To bounce his ball upon the table ! 
His little legs now jump so high. 
As if he wished to reach the sky ! 
My child! 'tis life — this God-sent power — 
That makes thee stronger every hour ! 
'T is mine to guard, and mine to guide, 
This life — my pleasure and my pride ; 
For in the joy of life, at length 
My child will learn to know his strength, 
Will learn that he must work and strive 
If he would nobly live and thrive ! 



A Monthly of 24 pages. 
EDITED BY ELIZABETH P. PEABODT. 



No. 5. — SEPTEMBER, 1873. 



SuBSCEiPTiON'S of ONE DOLLAR, payable in advance to the Editor, 19 Follen 
Street, Cambridge. There is also a subscription paper at N. 0. Peabody's Homoeo- 
pathic Pharmacy, 56 Beach Street, Boston ; at Putnam & Sons, Publishers, corner 
of 23d Street and 4th Avenue, and at Steiger's, 22 and 24 Fraulifort Street, New 
York City. 

TO SUBSCRIBERS. 

TTAVING requested those to whom I sent my first numbers, to 
-*--*- return them if they did not wish to subscribe, I have con- 
tinued to send to all who did not return them; although some of 
the latter have not yet indicated acceptance by sending the price, 
as more than three hundred have done. Only three persons have 
returned them, but they did so without indicating their names, and, 
therefore, I may be guilty of the seeming intrusion of sending them 
against their wishes. After this number, therefore, I shall send to 
none who have not paid ; but should like to have the back numbers 
of those who do not subscribe, and will return the postage to who- 
ever will return them to me ; for I do not want the few sets I have 
printed to be broken. This request does not apply to editors of 
newspapers and periodicals', to whom I have sent only the first 
number, of which I have printed a second edition. I feel at liberty 
to make this rather peculiar request, as this enterprise was not 
undertaken for private emolument, but for a general public interest, 
and at my own pecuniary risk. 

Elizabeth P. Peabody. 
Cambridge, Mass. 



2 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

THE RELATIONS BETWEEN KINDERSARTEN AND QUAKEEISM. 

[Revised from tlie "Friend's Intelligencer. "1 

I THINK that if the Friends should once get the idea of 
Froehel's Kindergarten, they would feel that the method of 
intellectual development he proposes, is in singular harmony 
with the method of spiritual development brought forth by 
George Fox, 

The plans of church organization became so complicated 
in its first fifteen centuries, and were so unwise, as to hinder 
the spirit, whose strivings to be free at last culminated in 
what Catholics call the schism of Christendom, and Protest- 
ants the Reformation. 

The protest of George Fox was the most complete one 
of any Reformer. He returned to first principles, and con- 
sidered the primal relations of God and the human soul, and 
proclaimed the principle that spiritual development was not 
started-from without but from within ; and that all church 
organization mainly had for its first and last object to pro- 
tect the freedom of the spirit. Spiritual life proceeds 
directly from God to every individual soul ; and a free 
communication of this among men makes the true church, 
whose first law is " liberty of prophesying." 

But intellectual life has not so immediate a genesis. The 
human understanding is developed in time, and is the effect 
of the reaction of the external universe upon perceptive sen- 
sibility. It gradually grows up by accumulating impressions 
on the senses, and by learning the connections of single 
things in nature which produce these impressions. 

It was early observed that though single things are per- 
ceived by the healthy senses in a general way, yet they are 
not accurately defined unless human beings call each other's 
attention to their differences and resemblances. A child, if 
left alone, and never played with by the mother or nurse, 
nor ever tenderly wooed from the sleep of nature by tones 
and looks of love, does not " come forth into the light of 
things," but becomes idiotic or dies (as nine-tenths of the 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 3 

children gathered into foundling hospitals do). And, later 
in life, unless Education take the child by the hand, and call 
out his reflective powers by suggesting the proper classifica- 
tion and hidden connections of things, the mind becomes 
conftised and does not get organized into a good under- 
standing. 

Now, in the intellectual as in the spiritual education of 
man, an analogous wrong way was taken iirst. The mistake 
of systems of intellectual education has been, to overlay the 
child's mind by the teacher's mind, instead of calling forth 
its self-activity ; classifying for the child, instead of leading 
him to classify for himself; and telling him the connections 
of things, instead of calling upon him to discover them. 
And this method has always involved great antagonism on 
the part of the child, in proportion as he has had any origi- 
nal force of life ; so that to educate the young has seemed to 
be a struggle with their natural tendencies. But Froebel 
has shown that in the soul of the child is a guide to the in- 
tellectual development, which is to be studied out by the 
educator on whom the child is made dependent; because, be- 
sides God's binding the soul to Himself by spiritual com- 
munion, the sonls of men are to be bound to each other by 
intercommunication ; the first stejDS of which are the educa- 
tion of the young by the old, who are to continue in social 
intercourse forevermore — "the communion of the just" 
being its consummation in bliss and glory. 

George Fox recognized the communion of saints, which 
the Friends verify by the unity or solidarity with each other 
that they make the test of truth prompting to good works, 
and creative of spirituality. Froebel shows that on the in- 
tellectual plane may be found an analogous test of intellect- 
ual life ; inasmuch as true intellectual life prompts to pro- 
duction not only of material things of beauty and use, 
but of forms of social and civil polity. On this principle he 
has founded the art of Kindergartening. 

But children do not produce things intuitively — they need 



4 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

the help of one who understands the laws of nature and its 
raw material. They are blind forces of indefinite desire 
when they come into the world ; and they begin to act be- 
fore they know clearly what they want, or how to attain it. 
Therefore, disorder and destruction are what an uninstructed 
child produces — though from no inherent malignity of 
heart. They prefer order to disorder when the former is 
presented to them; they like rhythm and melody better than 
irregular and rough sound ; construction better than destruc- 
tion; and there is within them a certain aesthetic sense 
which accepts and aftts out the right thing xohen it is sug- 
gested — that is, if it is suggested and not arbitrarily imposed 
on them; for whatever is arbitrary is opposed inevitably, 
just in proportion to the force of the individual's character. 

Education, therefore, on Froebel's method, has nothing 
arbitrary about it. It tempts forth the self-activity, which 
takes every various form, and gives all the freshness and va- 
riety to human thought. It ought to begin so early as to 
preclude that production of evil which must needs take place 
if the faculties are left to run into wild disorder, or to rust 
in idleness and stupidity. 

Madame Marenholtz Bulow, in her preface to Jacob's Kin- 
dergarten Manual, says: "To develop the senses is not to 
indulge or pamper them, but to discipline them, and accus- 
tom them to serve the mind. It is the beginning of intel- 
lectual development ; and moral development is also impos- 
sible without this discipline of the senses." The old school- 
men used to say, "nothing in the intellect unless previously 
in the sense ;" which simply means that there must be a clear 
sensuous impression of the things that surround the child 
before he can have any thought about them ; that is, any 
understanding developed. The child is born with an impulse 
towards the sensible world, which is a manifestly blind im- 
pulse. An inward hunger propels him to seek with his 
mouth his nurture, but he cannot find it unless the mother 
brings it into contact with her nourishing breast. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 5 

Upon the lips is made the first strong impression of the 
world without, and for a time there is an impulse of the 
child to bring everything to its lips in order to examine it ; 
for it is not because a child is hungry that he does this, but 
because in that sense alone he is quite conscious. The 
mother develops other senses by genially presenting their 
appropriate objects; awakening the sense of sight by offer- 
ing bright colors to fix the eye, which only gradually learns 
to see ; and the sense of touch by gentle touches of the 
hand, which only gradually learns to take hold and grasp. 
Froebel, in his "Mother's Love Songs," describing little 
gymnastics of the hands and feet on the principle of "pat-a- 
cake," and " this little pig goes to market, and this stays at 
home," gives a development to the art of nursing babies, 
which shows that even this part of education gains by rising 
from the instinctive plane into the intellectual. In Ham- 
burg he even instituted a school for nurses, which to the 
present day continues, and hardly supplies the demand con- 
stantly made upon it ; and if what Dr. Howe, Dr. Seguin, 
and others, who keep schools for the feeble-minded, say, be 
true, namely, that much idiocy is functional, not organic, and 
arising from shocks given to the nerves by careless nursing, 
and paralysis by fright, ani.l want of judgment in tending 
babies, it will by and by be seen that our habit of giving up 
children in this delicate era of their being to ignorant do- 
mestics, is a barbarism. 

However, it is doubtless the fact that this part of a child's 
education, while it is in its mother's or nurse's arms, is the 
least defective of all. It is true that one-half of the human 
race die in the first year of life. Still, children are better 
educated in the nursery than in their next stage of being. 
The baby is so helpless and dependent that it challenges at- 
tention and care imperatively, and it is so utterly unable to 
make its wants known that it is watched, and its indications 
of smiles and tears obeyed. A child is indeed wraj)ped in a 
majestic mystery which for a long season we do not pene- 



6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

trate. Jesus Christ said the spirits of little children behold 
the face of the Father. But it is spiritually, and not at all 
intellectually, that they do so. 

In after life that primeval vision is sometimes eclipsed, but 
it is never lost. It comes back to us in our love of order, of 
symmetry, of rhythm, whether to the eye or ear; in our 
longings for harmony, for beauty, for unity; in the monitions 
of conscience, in remorse^ — which, as Mr. Emerson says, has 
in it "a certain sweetness;" — in our deathless desire to love 
and be loved ; and also in hope. None of these motions of 
the soul are intellectual ; they are aesthetic, that is, of the 
heart. They are the heart that is to be " kept to the issues 
of life," and should be the guide of the educator, who must 
perpetually watch to see if it is interpreted or outraged by 
the unfolding of the intellect. 

Froebel observed that a child is always more amused at 
first, by having one thing to play with than many. Several 
things confuse and weary it. What is this playing with a 
thino-? Is it not examining it, and making experiments 
with it, and by and by " making believe " with it ; that is, 
using it to embody its own fancies ? Froebel thought the 
proper first plaything for a child was a ball. His first gift, 
therefore, is a box of six soft balls crocheted with German 
worsted ; first the three primary colors and then the three 
secondary ones. For color, or analyzed light, is the first 
thing, after white light, to interest a child's attention ; doubt- 
less because it separates itself from the surrounding chaos, 
and gives him a perception of a single thing. First one ball 
is given (of a primary color), and, however young a child is, 
Froebel would have the nurse always talk to him, and call 
the ball by the name of the color. Next, give a contrasted 
color, but not till the first one has been played with so long 
as to make a strong impression. The two balls will amuse 
for a considerable time, and three for a longer time. The 
child, long before it can speak, will be able to bring you the 
right ball on having its color named. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 7 

The ball is the simplest of forms. It is doubtless the 
ground form of nature. It best symbolizes life, because of 
the ease with which it can be moved, as it is round. 

By and by all the colors are known, and flowers can be 
given of the same colors, and the child be led to observe 
similarity by being helped to group them round the ball they 
resemble. A baby needs no other playthings than these six 
balls, besides its fingers and toes, for its first year, or even 
longer. 

But these balls of the first gift are also used in the Kin- 
dergarten. Froebel's manuals give a hundred little games 
of ball, playing with which serves to develop quickness of 
eye, agility of body, and to teach counting up to the number 
six ; also subtracting, adding, dividing, and multiplying. 

It is only in Kindergarten we use the second gift of 
Froebel, which is a box containing a hard wooden ball, a 
cube, and a cylinder. It is the first Kindergarten occupa- 
tion to play with these three forms, which are examined and 
compared. The wooden ball may be taken up first, and its 
difierence from the colored balls observed. It is like them 
in form, it being so easily moved ; but it differs in color and 
the material of which it is made. Then the cube is brought 
forward. This is like the ball in material and color, but it 
does not move without being pushed. It naturally stands 
rather than rolls. It has sides ; it stands on one side, which 
is then the lower side ; and the child learns to distinguish the 
words upper and lower, front and back, right and left. 
There are six sides." The sides are alike in shape and size. 
It has eight corners and twelve edges, and, having all these 
things, it differs from the ball. All these truths are brought 
out from the child by genial converse. The word cube is 
thus defined in the mind, as a six-equal-sided figure with 
eight corners and twelve edges, and which stands, instead of 
rolling like the ball. 

At this stage children's attention should be directed to 
what they see about them, which resembles the ball or the 



8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

cube ; sometimes the room in which they are is a hollow 
cube. They will find resemblances that a grown-up person 
would hardly think of, in the furniture of the room. 

By and by a cylinder is given. This they will soon see 
rolls like a ball, and stands like a cube, but differs in shape 
from both. It has two flat sides, but they are not like the 
flat sides of a cube, but round. The material of which it is 
made is like the cube and ball. The child must look about 
to see what is like a cylinder. By and by you propose to 
put the things together in some way. Probably in every in- 
stance a child will set down the cube, put the cylinder on it 
and the ball on top. The child will perhaps say this looks 
like a man ; then its differences from a man's shape m.ay be 
drawn out by questions. 

You can at last ask the child if it is not a monument f and 
then a conversation can ensue about monuments — what 
they mean ; and soon the child will be dedicating his monu- 
ment to his mother or father, or Washington, or Lincoln, or 
Froebel ; another day, making the monument will be the 
first thing in the lesson, and before the child begins, he can 
be asked to whom he wishes to build his monument ? A 
great deal of conversation on the virtues or events that the 
monument may commemorate, will serve to define the moral 
sentiments of the child, and make principles understood, and 
this without going out of the sphere of a child's feeling and 
imagination. It is wonderful how much a child's senses and 
mind may be disciplined and heart exercised by this gift. But 
when the senses are sharpened by these simple objects, an 
opposite impression may be given simultaneously. By 
putting strings through these three objects, and whirling 
them round swiftly, the cylinder and cube will change their 
apparent form, and thus children may learn that things are not 
always what they seem ; and get the foundation of the idea 
of spirit, in the perception of its best symbol — motion. 

These lessons on the second gift should never last longer 
than half an hour, nor occur oftener, perhaps, than once a 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 9 

week ; but they should be renewed as often as once a week 
for months — for only by repetition upon the senses are im- 
pressions made strong, clear, and permanent, the foundation 
of a good understanding. Children like to renew old im- 
pressions, and it is wonderful to see the zest with which the 
second gift will be returned to, for months. 



LET CHILDREN PLAY. ■ 

This advice I feel bound to give for the benefit of a large 
class of zealous people, who are always endeavoring to utilize 
every impulse of youth, for the direct promotion of its intel- 
lectual or physical culture. 

They would have a system of gymnastics for him at re- 
cess, and he should systematically drill his muscles during 
the short interval between his studies. Intellectual culture, 
they know, is not all ; they are ready to mention moral and 
physical education as essential, "besides the cultivation of 
mere intellect." 

But, somehow, they desire to make physical education as 
systematic as the latter. They would infuse as much earnest 
purpose into it as if it were a study in the regular course. 
Seeing that there are three directions for culture, they ]Dro- 
pose to alternate : first, vigorously pushing the studies for 
mental culture ; second, as vigorously pushing gymnastic . 
training for the development of the body; third, impressing 
with equal earnestness of purpose the ti'aining in morals. 

Here we have three disciplines. No variety is allowed ; 
no respite or relaxation from the stern tension of the will. 
For will is fully as much required in gymnastic training as 
in intellectual. The moral training must be a will-training, 
if effective. 

Does one of these employments furnish recreation from the 
other ? Not to any great extent certainly. It is said that 



lO KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

one gas is a vacuum for all others. But one liquid is not a 
vacuum for another. Neither does one energetic training 
furnish rest and relief from another. 

What is common to all species of training for culture, 
whether of body or mind, is an earnest fixing of the atten- 
tion on some external method or norm. There must be a 
forcing of the faculties of the mind or of the muscles of the 
body into some prescribed path. All such endeavor is 
wearying. It is worse than wearying, for it is a partial ab- 
negation of the self-hood of the individual, and, if continued 
without true relaxation, soon develops into mechanical non- 
spiritxial drudgery. 

The refuge from this for childhood lies in play ; for the 
grown-up person, it is found in the various forms of art — 
music, literature, the drama, and the plastic arts. 

In play the child cuts loose entirely from prescribed tasks, 
and, giving scope to his fancy, becomes, to the extent of his 
ability, creative. He lives entirely for himself, — that is,/br- 
mally ; he does not in reality live for himself until man- 
hood. He makes practical experiments on the things of the 
world, and playthings in particular, to ascertain his own 
powers and faculties, and their limits. He has an impulse or 
instinct to subdue natural things, and rule over them. He 
makes and breaks, builds up and destroys ; his negative ac- 
tivity is as essential as his constructive. His play contains 
in it a developing germ. As soon as he has exhausted an 
object on its positive and negative sides — has learned to use 
it and destroy it — his iutei-est in it dies away, and he seeks 
a new object. Each plaything is a type of some human in- 
strumentality, just as each nursery tale contains the worn- 
down boulder, dating from beyond a former drift-period in 
human culture. From type to type the child proceeds to 
more concrete and more useful playthings, until at last his 
instinct for play gives way to serious interest in practical 
life. 

Wherein precisely does play difier from the serious occu- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. II 

pation of later years ? This will bear restating, though it is 
already" involved in what is said above. In practical life — 
the life of the individual in civil society — each one works 
out or elaborates some general product, not for his own ex- 
elusive, direct use, but for society. Through barter or ex- 
change, he obtains from the community all the other pro- 
ducts necessary to him, by means of the single one that he 
creates or helps at creating. Practical life is, therefore, a pro- 
found mediation, far too deep for the child to grasp. It is 
by combination and division of labor that man has really 
subdued nature and proved the might of spirit. But to place 
the child at once in this system of industry is to place him 
where all his endeavor apparently serves others and not 
himself. He cannot grasp the far-reaching circle by which 
his endeavor returns to him through the social machinery. 
Therefore, by such treatment he is prevented from develop- 
ing in himself that feeling of self-hood, and individuality, 
which is essential to the development of character. He is 
made a drudge, and will remain one. But in play he real- 
izes, in an immediate or direct manner, his independence. 
He does not act for or through somebody else, but he realizes 
his own self-hood in his activity. The development of dif- 
ferent types of play as the child grows to youth, and the 
youth to manhood, consists in the gradual change from mere 
immediate or direct exercise of childish personality upon 
things, to the exercise of power on what yields enjoyments 
only through the participation of others. This leads to the 
active interest in that complete mediation which is found in 
the currents of civil society. 

Play is in itself educative. But its very character as play 

is destroyed the moment that any serious purpose is con- 

k nected with it, or any ulterior object introduced into it. For 

that introduces with it the very mediation, the lack of which 

distinguishes it from work. 

The utilization of play by forming it into a system of edu- 
cation is therefore very liable to founder on this rock. 



12 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

Regular system is the antithesis of play. Play must be not 
only constructive, but destructive. If the latter phase is 
lacking, there is found wanting the very psychological move- 
ment in which consists the realization of independence and 
the development of the feeling of self In destroying, the 
Ego feels its negative might, its power of abstracting, of 
clearing up ; without this it never arrives at spiritual inde- 
pendence. 

This Kindergarten system does not, when properly carried 
out, ignore this point ; but it is extremely liable in the hands 
of novices, to become a very bad system of suppressing what 
is most valuable in childhood. Uniformity — of Calisthen- 
ics, for instance — is something alien to the true nature of 
play. It is a part of the discipline of moral culture, the 
straining into habits of attention and obedience. 

It was Hegel that said in 1817 : "Education through play 
is liable to result in the evil that the child learns to treat 
everything in life in a contemptuous style." The child in 
education should be taught only the constructive side of 
things. In play he learns the destructive phase as well. 

Therefore, while play is essential to the growth and devel- 
opment of spiritual strength and independence, its boundary 
lines should be carefully drawn in education and no confusion 
allowed. Play and work should be distinguished. Play 
cannot be utilized in such a way as to secure the culture that 
comes from earnest hard work. Neither can sober work 
alone suffice for the growth of the child or the man.* 

* The above article, from tlie able pen of William T. Harris, Editor of Specula- 
tive Review, should be read in connection with the following one from Miss H. Noa, 
which, on account of its length, we must defer to our next number. The two arti- 
cles appeared in two consecutive numbers of The Western, a periodical which has 
but a limited circulation, and chiefly in the West. Meanwhile, Mr. Harris's 
strong statement of the nature of play, as the extreme opposite of moral action 
has its unquestionable truth. But Froebel has demonstrated, as every properly 
regulated Kindergarten proves, that the yet irresponsible, because pre-intellectual 
nature, may play virtue as well as creation, if sympathetically cherished: that 
there is a natural correspondence between " the soul of the saint and the sage, 
and the artless address of the child." 

Mr. Harris seems to have accepted Miss Noa's more profound view of play, when 
its motive is beauty, as the highest form of the action of human nature. We so 
judge both from his review of Mrs. Kriege's " Child," and his adoption of Kinder- 
garten into the pubUc system of St. Louis. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 3 

OBJECT-TEACHIN&. 

The commonest mistake made about Kindergarten is that 
it is identical with Pestalozzi's object-teaching. 

Object-teaching versus book-learning is of course a part 
of the Kindergarten course; but it is of a different kind 
from the Pestalozzian, which addresses, at the outset, a power 
of observation that it is the main purpose of the Kinder- 
garten to develop ; taking up children at the age when they 
cannot be made to observe anything which they are not 
themselves doing, or have not just done. 

The first object for the observation of children in the 
nursery, and which continues into the Kindergarten, is their 
own playing with their own limbs, or with each othei\ This 
interests tlieir attention — especially their playing with each 
other rhythmically ; for, in order to do it with the good 
effect of mutual enjoyment, they must observe what they do, 
and what others do; and this becomes an object of earnest 
observation and of memory. They perceive and they recol- 
lect the evolutions which make up their fun. If those about 
them see to it and help them to keep the rhythm and sym- 
metry, and the relations of the parts to the whole, they are 
giving an objective lesson in order, every time the children 
go through one of the movement plays. 

It is fundamental to the art and science of Kindergarten 
that this thing be clearly understood by the teacher, 
a Nature indicates this method to the mother who teaches 
her baby to " pat-a-cake," or something equivalent, which 
leads him to attend to his hands and fingers, and their func- 
tions. She instinctively knows, that for him to do it will 
amuse him more, and teach him more, than for her to do it 
before his eyes. He may attend for a moment to a light or 
brillinnt color, which impresses the nerves of sight; but he 
will attend more and longer to what he is' doing ; his own 
activity will co-operate with the impressions made on his 
senses, and thus the object of perception will be observed. 
The child is gently led from subjective activity to object- 



14 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

ive nature, so far, and only so far, as it is in living relation 
with himself, as it only can be, when he is acting upon it. 

"We beg our readers to attend to this point, because it is 
here, at the very beginning of individual life, that Froebel's 
method takes the character of its procedure. In order to 
have a total action of the child's nature, and prevent dispro- 
portion of the soul-impulse and the observing intellect, 
DOING must always precede the attempt to observe. He will 
perceive but dimly, superficially, and inaccurately, anything 
that he is not part of by activity and feeling. The action 
and re-action of himself with nature, including other per- 
sons, makes the connecting link where individual existence 
branches off from Universal Being. There is the germ of 
the immortal man. Miss Youmans recognizes this time of a 
child's life, before any object-teaching, in the common — or 
even in her own more vital — mode, can possibly begin. 
She says :-— 

"The infant is endowed with spontaneous activity; it moves, 
struggles, and throws about its limbs, as soon as it is born. But 
its actions are at first aimless and confused. As it knows nothing, 
it can do nothing ; but, with the growth of distinct ideas and feel- 
ings, there is also a growth of special movements in connection 
with them. It has found out by innumerable trials, how to creep, 
to walk, to hold things, and to feed itself. To see an object, and 
to be able to seize it, or to go and get it, results from an adjust- 
ment of visual impressions with muscular movements, which it has 
taken thousands of experiments to bring under control. * * * 
Numerous aptitudes and dexterities are achieved; and when, stin^ 
ulated by curiosity, the child examines its toy, and breaks it open 
to find what makes it go, he has entered upon a career of active 
experiment, as truly as the man of science in his laboratory. Such 
is nature's method of education. Human beings are born into a 
world of stubborn realities ; of laws that are fraught with life and 
death in their inflexible course. What the new-born creature shall 
be taught, is too important to be left to any contingency ; and so 
nature takes in hand the early training of the whole human race, 
and secures that rudimentary knowledge of the properties of 
things which is alike indispensable to all." 

But " Nature," as this early trainer, must be understood 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 5 

to include the mother's or nurse's instinctive action upon 
the child ; aiding it by sympathetic reduj)lications of its ac- 
tivity, or by nursery play, as we commonly call it, which, in 
order to be perfect, must understand what are the vital pro- 
cesses of gi'owth. Miss Youmans adds : — 

"Nature's method of leading out the intelligence is that of 
growth. She roots mental activity in organic processes, and thus 
times the rate of acquisition to the march of organic changes. 
She is never in haste, but always at work; never crams, but ever 
repeats and organizes. Her policy of producing vast effects by 
simple means is not departed from in the realm of mind ; indeed it 
is more marvellous here than anywhere. While the organic world 
[of matter] is made up almost entirely of but four chemical ele- 
ments, the intellectual world is constituted wholly of but two ulti- 
mate elements, the perception of likeness and the perception of 
difference among objects of thought. These elements are wrought 
into the mental constitution through the direct observation and ex- 
perience of things. Mind is called forth by the spontaneous interac- 
tion of the growing organism and the agencies and objects of sur- 
rounding nature." 

I have underlined these words experience, and spontaneous 
interaction, because it is just this, which is the genuine kin- 
dergartner's part of that training of the whole human race 
ascribed to nature by Miss 'Youmans ; for nature with the 
human activity left out of it could not interact and educate. 
The kindergartner will succeed, and will prove herself genu- 
ine, only so far as she embodies in her method the order of 
nature, and it is of the first .importance, therefore, that she 
should be sure that she does this in her object-teaching. 

It will help her to do so if she reads and ponders this very 
essay — "On the Culture of the Observing Powers of Chil- 
dren," which was published as an appendix to the first edi- 
tion of Miss Youman's "First Lessons in Botany," and 
which the publisher, Appleton, has made into a separate 
pamphlet, and distributes gratuitously to teachers. (It also 
appears as the appendix to the second book of Botany). 

This essay contains, also, an admirable criticism upon the 
ordinary method of object-teaching, identical with the one 



l6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

made by Froebel, when he became acquainted with Pesta- 
lozzi's method, which was not until after his own first experi- 
ments at Frankfort-on-the-Main, and at Keilhau. It is often 
said (but it is erroneous) that Froebel's method was an im- 
provement and outgrowth of Pestalozzi's. But it was origi- 
nal ; and when he heard of Pestalozzi, he took the little class 
he had at Keilhau, and went to Yverdun and they were all 
pupils together for a season. He doubtless gained some- 
thing ; but he saw that children did not spontaneously ob- 
serve to much advantage, and made the same criticism and 
expressed the same ideas, that Miss Youmans does, in the 
following paragraph : — 

"The system of teaching by object lessous, is an attempt to 
meet the present requirement in the sphere of primary education. 
But these efforts have been rather well-intentioned gropings after 
a desirable result, than satisfactory realizations of it. The method 
is theoretically correct, and some benefit cannot fail to have re- 
sulted; but fhe, practice has proved incoherent, desultory, and totally 
insufficient as a training of the observing powers. Nor can this be 
otherwise, so long as all sorts of objects are made to serve as ' les- 
sons,' whilst the exercises consist merely in learning a few obvi- 
ous and unrelated characters ; although in infancy objects are prcr 
sented at random, yet if mental growth is to be definitely directed, 
they must be presented in relation. A lesson one day on a bone, the . 
next on a piece of lead, and the next on a flower, may be excellent 
for imparting ' information,' but the lack of relation among these 
objects unfits them to be employed for developing connected and 
dependent thought. Object-teaching can be thoroughly successful 
only where the ' objects ' studied are connected together in a large, 
complex whole as a part of the order of nature. * * * What 
we most urgently need is an objective course of study which shall 
train the observing powers as mathematics trains the power of calcu- 
lation. From the time the child begins to count, until the man has 
mastered the calculus, there is provided an unbroken series of 
exercises of ever increasing complexity; suited to unfold the ma- 
thematical faculty. We want a parallel course of objective exer- 
cises, not to be dispatched in a term or a year, but running through 
the whole period of education, which shall give the observing and 
inductive faculties a corresponding, continuous, and systematic un- 
folding." 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER, 1/ 

The purpose of Miss Youmans' essay, is to recommend 
botany to be taught all children in the public schools, as 
soon as they can read and write, pursuing Prof. Henslow's 
method of a progressive series of schedules, recording ob- 
servations made on real plants in a systematic manner. Her 
argument is profound and irrefragable for substituting for 
the desultory objects presented ordinarily, observations in 
one department of nature, always at hand, leading children 
into the open air, and organically connected; so that it 
shall organize the understanding, as well as sharpen the 
senses. 

But it is obvious that her " First Lessons in Botany " are 
not suited to Kindergarten children, who are just out of the 
nursery. There has just appeared, however, expressly for 
Kindergartens, a little book of fifty-five pages, called " Flower 
Object-Lessons," translated from the introduction of Le 
Maout's great work, now in process of re-publication, with 
all the original jDlates, by Lee and Shepherd, of Boston. 
That is a work of 600 pages. This little book comprises 
only about twenty-five pages of Le Maout's introduction 
which has been translated by Miss A. L. Page, of Danvers, 
a philosophic and genial student of children, whom the 
town has been wise enough to elect into its School Com- 
mittee.* 

The kindergartner will find it a valuable aid in preparing 
children for entering upon Miss Youman's books, when they 
shall go to the schools that teach to read and write. That 
^ such a preparation is ueedful. Miss Youmans herself freely 
expressed to me, in so many words, after the experiment 
was first tried of introducing her " First Lessons " into the 
higher primary schools of New York. "Half the children 
of seven years old," she said " are already intellectually de- 



* This liook, bound in cloth, may be had of the translator, who will mail it on 
receipt of 75 cents. It can also be had, for the same price, in New Yorli, of Aus- 
tin Black, 37 Park^Row, N. Y., and, in any quantity, in Boston, of Estes & Lauriat, 
for the small sum of 65 cents a piece. 



1 8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

moralized." There could not be a stronger indication of the 
need of Froebel's Kindergarten than this fact. To prevent 
this demoralization, to moralize children from the beginning, 
by a harmonious development of their hearts, minds, and 
bodies, educating their wills to flow in the creative channels, 
was the first and last thing he aimed at. He clearly saw 
that children do not begin with observing, but (before they 
have any distinct sensuous impressions, even of a passive 
character,) with impetuously exerting such faculties of move- 
ment as they possess. They exert their muscles of suction, 
&c., by a primordial necessity, which brings, as inevitable 
consequence, impressions of an outlying (objective) world. 

Now the nature of the first impressions has a good deal to 
do with the liveliness and healthy character of the observa- 
tions which they stimulate. If the impressions are pleasur- 
able, they are so much the more certain to engage the atten- 
tion and direct the will to manipulate and observe. Gentle 
rhythmical sounds and motions, caresses and smiles, are the 
first objects presented in normal cases; Froebel added colors 
to develop the organ of sight ; and the primal forms of ball, 
cube, cylinder, square, oblong, triangle, solid, and plane, to 
be handled and manipulated, through which he knew chil- 
dren could be easily led to compare and observe similarities 
and differences, and make general judgments on things, 
which completes the operation of thinking (as the etymol- 
ogy of that word suggests). 

Genially to guide and govern the normal act of thinking, 
to the end of transforming and arranging or organizing lesser, 
into larger unities, in order to embody childhood's fancies, 
was the immense contribution that Froebel made to educa- 
tion ; the contribution of a solid foundation for art and sci- 
ence, which he believes could be given by the earliest educa- 
cation to every child not absolutely idiotic. And since his 
death, it has been seen that persevering in his order of 
bringing children into relation with objects, would do some- 
thing even for those sad victims of congenital malformation 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER, I9 

— idiots, more or less absolute. What it may do for the 
universal and healthy development of children, who are 
properly organized when born, has not yet been dreamed of, 
perhaps! 

For this first field of life's experience, even Pestalozzi neg- 
lected and allowed to grow into a wilderness, in which he 
had to begin by cutting down and uprooting habits which 
had grown rank. Object-teachers often find it difficult to 
engage attention to what they present for observation ; but 
children always attend spontaneously and earnestly to what 
they themselves are doing and making, if it gives them 
pleasure. 

On this fact of life Froebel has organized the plays and 
occupations, which become the first objects of attention in 
the Kindergarten. His object-teaching, therefore, proceeding 
from the child, as a centre, outward, does not bewilder and 
. dissipate him, but organizes and perfects in him the image of 
the Creator, in correspondence with the great symbol of the 
universe, in which he finds himself. 



Under this heading, we shall give, in every number of our " Messenger," items 
respecting the status and progress of Kindergarten in this country and in Europe. 

To several correspondents who have written to ask me 
where they can obtain Kindergarten training which is reli- 
able^ and at what cost ; I can answer : From Miss Garland, 
who opens a class for twelve pupils, at 98 Chestnut Street, 
Boston, in ISTovember. Her charge for the course is $100. 
Miss Haines, also, of 10 Gramercy Park, New York, an- 
nounces that a class for training teachers will be opened by 
Mrs. Kraus-Boelte, in connection with her Kindergarten, in 
October ; the charge for the course being |200. 

I have, also, the prospectus of Mrs. Ploedterll, 367 West 
23d Street, New York ; who advertises a normal class for 



20 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

Mndergartners at |80 the course, in connection with Mr. 
Thurm's German-Amei*ican School and Kindergarten. 

I am not myself acquainted with Mrs. Ploedterll, but I 
understand she wrote the following article, which was read 
at the German Teachers' Convention at Hoboken, August, 
1872, by Mr. Ploedterll ; and if she did, it is a certificate of 
her ability : — 

" Undoubtedly the plan and practice of the Kindergarten sprang 
from the clear perception of the deficiency of education in general, 
and of home education in particular. 

" Froebel, starting from the fundamental principle that educa- 
tion should keep even pace with the organic development of man, 
and should be continued without cessation or interruption, found, 
on comparing that which home education afforded up to a certain 
age, with that which school demanded at the same time, a noid in 
which he discovered the first cause of the failure of all later educa- 
tion and culture. 

" Not only this, but the whole practice of ordinary education 
brought to him the conviction that here, above all, help was 
needed, if the cause of education was not to remain botch-work 
forever, and thus impede the successful development and the en- 
nobling of future generations. To reform the parents, to educate 
them anew, to force upon them the clear conviction of that which 
was actually needed, was too slow a means ; the more sensible way 
was to commence at once with the children themselves. By this 
means a double advantage was gained, the children were benefited 
by the new system of education, and their homes were indirectly 
improved through their influence. 

"There are some persons who lack all knowledge of any rational 
system of education — who possess neither the desire nor the abil- 
ity to educate ; there are others who in consequence of business 
occupations, cares for daily support, or other obstacles, are pre- 
vented from carrying out a good and systematic course of honie 
education. 

" In such cases children are generally neglected; and this unfor- 
tunately at an age, when — as nature evidently shows — the found- 
ation of all good in the future can and should be laid. 

"What then is the work of the Kindergarten in connection with 
education both at home and in school? 

" Let us first consider the relation of the Kindergarten to the 
family. As far as the educational task of the Kindergarten is con- 
cerned, it should complement home education, when the latter is 
good, or not altogether bad; whei-e it is bad, the Kindergarten 
should ameliorate its condition, or take its place. 

" There are, we admit with pleasure, many families who devote 
themselves with love and tenderness to the task of educating their 
children, but notwithstanding all their endeavors, it is impossible 
for domestic education to do all that is required for the develop- 
ment of the children. Obstacles of various kinds arise in the 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 21 



midst of the family, but can be avoided, if the Kindergarten takes 
upon itself the duties of home training. 

" Some very important auxiliaries are not offered to the child at 
home ; as, for instance, the uninterrupted intercourse with other 
children, the variety of useful and yet child-like occupations, the 
regular and harmonious exercise of the body ; in fact all necessary 
opportunity for the development of physical and moral strength 
and independence. All these opportunities the Kindergarten offers 
in a systematic order in its daily plays, and by its varied means of 
occupation. 

" The child easily learns and improves among its companions. 
One serves as a model to the other — a model which is readily fol- 
lowed. The little ones stimulate each other; that which is familiar 
does not become tedious ; that which is new presents no diffi- 
culties ; nowhere stubborn self-will or ill temper, for the inter- 
course of the little ones is all joyousness and mdefatigable zeal. 
The desire for imitation, this useful element in the child's constitu- 
tion, finds ample scope in the Kindergarten, and is called into exer- 
cise without overstraining or fatiguing its faculties. This fact has 
long since been acknowledged, and is sufficient in itself to settle 
the dispute regarding the advantages of collective over isolated 
education. 

" And to the families of the poor, where father and mother must 
both work for their support, and consequently cannot give any 
time or care to their children, the Kindergarten is a positive 
blessing. 

" As it cannot be denied that a great portion of the misery of 
the world has its origin in the increasing demoralization of the 
people, it becomes the duty of the State and of all philanthropists 
to help, where help can yet avail. Money and labor alone cannot 
combat the enemy which threatens civil prosperity ; morality and 
culture alone are able to resist successfully. These powers should, 
therefore, be called into exercise, and this can easily be accom- 
plished, if the children of the afore-named classes enjoy from their 
earliest childhood the advantages of a good education. The so-called 
"children's asylums " (Bewahranstalten) are excellent, but if they 
are to supply more than merely temporary good, they must adopt 
the educational system of the Kindergarten. 

"Let us now consider the relations of the Kindergarten to the school. 
With regard to the school and preparatory to it, the mission of 
the Kindergarten differs entirely from that which it holds toward 
the family — it serves as a systematic means of education destined 
to be the link between home and school. How can it fulfill this 
mission? Only by combining the characteristics of home and 
school education, and by adopting a system, which, rendering a 
continuation of home life possible, prepares at the same time for 
'the more earnest duties of school. 

"Not upon any law founded on scientific examination of human 
nature, but on usage, rests the custom of not sending children to 
school until their fifth or sixth year. It is not our object here to 
examine the evil produced by this practice of initiating the child 
into school life at the above-named period ; it is our task to con- 



22 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 



sider what may be done before the period of entering school, and 
what is necessary on entering it. 

" It is of the highest importance that the mental faculties of the 
child shall have been so judiciously exercised that the first lessons 
at school do not produce any ill effect upon the child's capacities 
and powers. Formerly, before the Kindergarten ranked amongst 
educational institutions, the child, after spending from five to six 
years at home without training or discipline, was sent to school 
and there expected to learn at once. What were the natural con- 
sequences of such a course? With amazement, yet without under- 
standing, the child looked upon the new life that unfolded itself 
before its eyes ; the intercourse with other children, it is true, was 
pleasing ; but far from pleasant was learning, observing, thinking, 
acquiring; with these things there had been no acquaintance hith- 
erto. Finally, however, its mind became familiar in a painful, dry, 
and mechanical manner, ill-suited to the tastes of a child, with the 
work and exercises of primary instruction. 

" Does this abrupt change from home to school-training favor a 
free, uninterrupted development of the child's nature? No — 
though the children may from habit gradually fall in with the cus- 
tom of the school, and submit to the unnatural ways imposed upon 
them. The disadvantage of such a system cannot perhaps be traced 
back to its source in the individual. Careful observers, however, 
of the human mind as well as of whole nations, have discovered 
the source of so much deficiency in culture, and of superficiality in 
attainments, in that first imposed instruction, in that injudicious 
drilling of the mental faculties in our primary schools. 

"It is the task of the Kindergarten to remedy this evil, and to 
establish an intermediate link between the home and school des- 
tined to offer to the child that absolutely necessary preparation, by 
which the embarassment and bewilderment, the injury of the 
child's mental faculties on entering school will be prevented, and a 
rapid understanding and mastering of the new instruction effected. 

" After these remarks there remains for us only to consider the 
method of the Kindergarten. The Kindergarten satisfies all the wants 
of the child's nature by promoting at the same time its physical and 
mental development. For the strengthening of the body there are, 
in the first place, regular exercises in calisthenics and gymnastics ; 
secondly, movement-plays (Bewegungsspiele) in the open air and 
also in the house, both combining to attain the desired end in a 
manner easy, pleasing, and useful to the childi'en. Frequently the 
plays are accompanied with songs which exercise great influence 
over the child's feelings and manners. The fellowship of the plays, 
the reiguing freedom, the prevailing gayety, all these together call 
forth in the hearts of the children moods and sentiments which 
may be considered the forerunners of a conscious love of the good 
and the beautiful. 

" Elements so injurious to the culture of the heart as a stubborn 
seclusiveness, obstinacy, quarrelsomeness, imperiousnegs, or pride 
are entirely banished from these regions. Children are brought 
and kept together here on the principles of a harmonious working 
of equal claims to culture, development, and the care of the 
teacher — and is this to remain without influence upon the child's 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 23 

soul-life ? Will it not make its heart susceptible of all that makes 
a human being truly happy ? 

"The movement-plays are of decided , advantage to the mental 
development of the child; it acquires, and without trouble, an in- 
tuitive knowledge of actual life ; it learns to understand a number 
of occupations and actions, and to judge of them, without injury 
to its tender organization, and without becoming precocious. A 
similar advantage it derives from each particular exercise of 
the Kindergarten. 

" What a rich field is opened to the thoughtful Kindergarten- 
teacher in the Tale, for instance. How she can work upon the child's 
imagination ! Then the ball-plays — how they do promote skillful- 
ness and grace ! As for the building blocks — here are new shapes 
with which the child becomes acquainted — and what a variety of 
forms and structures can be produced! 

" Closely connected with building apparatus are those (Lege- 
spiele) consisting of squares, triangles, &c. 

************ 

"You will be convinced by this explanation that in the Kinder- 
garten alone, children can receive in a natural manner that prepar- 
ation and fitness for school, without which the school can never ac- 
complish what it should. The school in its present state lacks the 
proper institution to precede and succeed it. 

"In conclusion, we may say of the Kindergarten, in the words of 
. Diestervveg, If we ask the teachers to whom we entrust our chil- 
dren, what pupils they like best, they answer : That they consider 
themselves favored in receiving children into their schools who 
spent their first years in the wholesome atmosphere of the Kinder- 
garten." 



THE CHILD AT HIS MOTHER'S BSEAST. 

Mother ! not only earthly food thine infant seeks from thee, 
But, to his natural instinct true. 
He yearns for love and kindness, too ; 

And feeds his heart upon thy sympathy. 



Ah, see ! with what content and zest, 
Mine infant clasps his mother's breast ; 
'His slumbering instinct still doth move 
His soul to trust his mother's love ; 
As he from her receives his food, 
From her he seeks all other good ; 
His filial love and care, returning — 
At no late day — his mother's yearning. 
From her example, pure and bright, 
His mind must learn to know the right ! 



s ■T' E3 1 cs- :h3 :e=l, 

Wos. 22 and 24 Franhfort Street, New York, 

Keeps on hand an extensive and well-assorted supply of 

KINDERGARTEN GIFTS 

(OCCUFA.TJON MATEItlJiJj), 

Of foreign as well as domestic manufacture. Particular attention 
is called to E. Steiger's stock of 

BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS, 

In German, English, and French, on the 

KINDER6ARTEF SYSTEM. 



The New Education, as Froebel's Ststhm is properly called, is here rep- 
resented in all that is requisite to its integrity and full development, by every 
publication of note on the subject issued in 

AMERICA, GERMANY, ENGLAND, PRANCE, AND BELGIUM. 

E. Stbiger's Agents in Germany, England, and elsewhere in Europe, are 
instructed to forward new publications appertaining to the Kindergarten System, 
immediately on their appearance. Catalogues sent on apphcation. 



The following American PuUications on the Kindergarten System will he for- 
warded, post-paid, upon receipt of price : 

A. Douai. The Kindergarten. A Manual for the introduction of Froebel's 
System of Primary Education into Public Schools, and for the use of 

Mothers and Private Teachers. With 16 plates. Cloth $1.00 

(The text of the songs and poetry is mostly in English and German.) 

Mrs. Matilda H. Kriege. The Child; its Nature and Relations. An 
elucidation of Froebel's Principles of Education. A free rendering of 
the German of the Baroness Marenholtz-Bulow. Second edition, pp. 148, 
printed on heavy tinted paper, tastefuUy bound in bevelled cloth, gUt top, $1.00 

Mrs. H. Mann and £Uzabetli P. Peabody. Moral Culture of Infancy, 

and Kindergarten Guide. With Music for the Plays. Cloth . . . .$1.25 

Edw. "Wiebe. The Paradise of Childhood. A Manual for instruction in 
Frie<lrich Froebel's Educational Principles, and a Practical Guide to 
Kindergartners. With 74 Plates. 4to $3.00 



E. STEIGEE, 22 and 24 Frankfort Street, New York. 



A Monthly of 24 pages. 
EDITED BY ELIZABETH P. PEABODT. 



No. 6. — OCTOBER, 1873. 



SuBSCKiPTiONS of ONE DOLLAB, payable in advance to the Editor, 19 Follen 
Street, Cambridge. There is also a subscription paper at N. 0. Peabody's Homoeo- 
pathic Pharmacy, 56 Beach Street, Boston ; at Putnam & Sons, Publishers, corner 
of 23d Street and 4th Avenue, and at Steiger's, 22 and 24 Frankfort Street, New 
York City. 

FHOEBEL AS BI7ILDEE. . 

[Read by Miss R. J. Weston, on occasion of her graduation from Miss 'Garland's 
Normal Class of 1872.] 

How wonderful are the tireless forces of nature ! With- 
out haste, without rest, they work out their appointed tasks, 
and summer and winter, seed-time and harvest, shall not 
fail. Up and down, up and down, the seething waves are 
tossing throughout the ages, and not one among them all is 
faithless to his trust. Still, through all time the mighty 
power of attraction draws all things to the sun. With 
ceaseless persistency does each lesser orb send forth its fee- 
bler power, and thus, by nice adjustment, the solar system 
pursues its course', unfearing and unharmed. In and out, in 
and out, the restless wave of life keeps heaving to and fro, 
and the athlete, the delicate woman, and the eager, playful 
child are alike regardless of the still, small voice that bids 
him live because it is its will. Back and forth, back and 
forth, cloud-messengers convey the element without which 
life were impossible to any organism, be it man, or brute, or 
herb ; and the same water fills the river-beds to-day that 
gleamed blue and serene upon the vision of Adam. Day 
and night, light and darkness succeed each other, and no 
man doubts for the morrow, " For the Lord hath spoken it," 



2 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

— the Word that rules the whole — law! Ocean thunders 
it in tempest, and moans it in hours of calm. The softest 
zephyr bi'eathes it, and brook and lonely pine take up the re- 
frain. Birds build it into their nests, and flowers paint it in 
exquisite color. In rugged lines, or soft, it is written all 
over earth and heaven ; and from the morning stars that 
s^ng it together, to the dumb rock that bears eloquent wit- 
ness, all things attest the universal sway of law. In material 
things we all acknowledge this to be true, but it is not so 
generally conceded — at least, practically, — in mental and 
spiritual affairs. Nevertheless, it is a growing conviction 
among the thinkers of the age, that mental and soul science 
will be demonstrated as truly as any physical science ; and 
that those who have to deal with the minds and souls of 
men are successful or otherwise, in their attempts to bless 
mankind, in proportion to the amount of knowledge gained 
concerning the mode of mental or physical manifestations. 
" The proper study of mankind is man," and in all ages there 
have arisen philosophers who speculated with more or less 
accuracy upon human life and experience. 

But, within the present century, a man has lived who de- 
voted the whole energies of his being to the solution of the 
problem of education ; and his discoveries seem destined to 
become of rare service to the race. 

Motherless at the age of six years, Friedrich Froebel was 
left much to the care of servants, and early learned tise truth 
so well stated, at a later day, by Mrs. Browning : 

"Women know 
The way to rear up children (to be just). 
They know a simple, merry, tender knack 
Of tying sashes, fitting baby shoes, 
And stringing pretty words that make no sense, 
And kissing full sense into empty words ; 
Which things are coral to cut life upon, 
Although such trifles ; children learn by such 
Love's holy earnest in a pretty play. 
And get not over-early solemnized, — 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 3 

But seeing, as in a rose-bush, Love's Divine, 

(Which burns and hurts not — not. a single bloom) — 

Become aware and unafraid of Love. 

Such good do mothers. Fathers love as well, 

* * * but still with heavier brains, 

And wiUs more consciously responsible. 

And not as wisely, since less foolishly ! 

So mothers have God's license to be missed." 

Perhaps had he not missed this tender mother-love, he 
would have been somewhat less to little children than he be- 
came, and thus the law of compensation was justified. 

Froebel, in his early manhood, was at one time a student 
in an architect's office. It was at the time of the great re- 
form in education which took place in Prussia, after the 
French were driven out ; and at the place where he boarded 
there was a great deal of conversation in connection with 
this movement. Froebel was much interested, and what he 
said so much pleased one of the great educators, that he said 
to him, "Education is your genius! Why not give up the 
architecture and join us, and help to huild men ? " The 
idea delighted him, for he felt that he had a vocation for the 
work. This train of thought brought to mind an incident 
in his childhood : He became much interested in watching 
some workmen repairing a Gothic church, and immediately 
collected a quantity of sticks and stones together, and tried, 
in child fashion, to build one. But he had little success, and 
finally abandoned the attempt in disgust. The impression 
made upon his mind, however, was powerful, and often re- 
curred to him in later years, accompanied by the feeling that 
children needed prepared materials, and some one to ■ tell 
them how to work, in order to carry out their own ideas. 
So his own childish attempts at play in his father's garden 
became the starting point from which he proceeded to find 
suitable materials, and a method of using them ; hence the 
occupations and plays of the Kindergarten. 

He saw the analogy between the natural manifestations ot 
a child and the development of the race from barbarism, and. 



4 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

thought it i-easonable that children should, on a small scale, 
pass through the same stages of development that have cha- 
racterized the development of humanity. Studying the his- 
tory of mankind with reference to individual needs, he 
sought- earnestly for the clue that should lead out from the 
labyrinth of promiscuous instruction to the open daylight of 
education — development of the three-fold nature, mental, 
moral, and spiritual. He w^as a devoted lover of the natural 
sciences, and in their pursuit he obtained wonderful glimpses 
of the unity of all created things. 

Nearer and nearer he drew to the mother-heart of nature, 
and to him, at last, she revealed her mighty secret — that 
one law rules the vast domain of created life, upon whatever 
plane, physical, moral, or mental — the law that under dif- 
ferent names had been long recognized. This law, then, 
which he called the law of contrasts and their connections, 
he applied to education. But how? 

In the word of prophecy we read that in that millenial 
day, of which all men dream, " the lion and the lamb shall 
lie down together, and a little child shall lead them." Per- 
haps this may come to have a new and diviner meaning than 
it has hitherto had to men of hardened heart and blind un- 
derstanding ; for education will never be what it ought till 
the germ of the future man is seen in the infant in arms, and 
the fact is recognized that " all men are possible heroes." 
No man laughs with incredulity when green fields of waving 
corn are anticipated from the seed planted in spring-lime ; 
but the wonderful organism of mind, soul, and body included 
in the babe, are but little considered. Any care that pr^s^- 
serves the child from physical harm is often considered suf- 
ficient. Not so thought Friedrich Froebel. Remembering 
the injunction of the Divine teacher to "become as little 
children," he went about from place to place, spending hours 
in peasants' huts, that he might study the ways of simple, 
unsophisticated mothers with their little ones. 

He heard their tender, loving songs, and marked how the 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 5 

child responded to rhythmical sounds. He saw the mother's 
yearning for recognition by her child, and noted the smile 
that, after a time, beamed like heaven upon her eager gaze. 
He watched the infant grasping at the sunbeam on the floor, 
its eager stretching out for the bright flower, and, as it grew 
older, its sympathy with all natural objects. He marked the 
child's unceasing motion, its never-tiring play, its supple hand 
that can be trained to such wonderful feats ; and from these 
three facts — the universal love of play in children, the love 
that all children have for nature, and the plastic nature of 
the little hand (that wonderful member whose skill makes all 
art and industry possible) — he conceived the scheme which 
he afterwards carried out, for the education of the youngest 
children. Had he lived longer, he would have developed 
the idea still farther. 

Froebel was at one time a pupil of Pestalozzi ; and though 
in many things he agreed with his great teacher, he also 
found some things from which he dissented ; for Pestalozzi 
begins with the observation of objects, while he saw that 
doing goes before thinking. It forms the understanding 
that is to be informed afterward by objects examined and 
classified. Froebel has object-teaching in the Kindergarten, 
but it is secondary to the direction of the activities of the 
senses and limbs, especially of the hand. Not absolute 
knowledge, but correct sensuous impression comes first ; then 
making things leads to examination of qualities and know- 
ledge of processes. 

Beginning, then, with the child's instinctive love of play 
' — seen in all ages and climes — he made self-activity the 
corner-stone of his system, and he found a sure way to chain 
the child's attention by associating all instruction with the 
use of the hands. But with what materials shall the child 
employ its activities ? I quote from Mme. Kriege's book, 
"The Child:" — "No subject of knowledge is so near, so 
essential to men as a knowledge of nature and her laws. 
But geometry, the basis of all natural science, should not be 



6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

taught at the outset as an abstract science ; it is not likely 
thus to awaken interest in many youthful minds. But if it 
starts from the original fundamental forms of nature, and 
never loses its connection with them ; if its single tenets and 
laws are deduced in organic connection clearly to the pupil's 
consciousness, then no thoughtful person — no one who is in- 
terested in the contemplation of nature, will pass this funda- 
mental science by with indifference. 

"How great would be the benefit to industry and the life 
of the nation, from such a popular and universal knowledge 
of geometry, and the natural sciences resting ujjon it, if we 
could succeed in teaching the coming generation, from earli- 
est childhood, to think over again the grand creation of the 
universe, to reproduce it, as it were, in their thoughts. 
Froebel conceived the importance of such an effort, and, 
therefore, he made the eternal archetypes of nature the play- 
things of childhood, and the laws, mutual relations, and 
combinations which nature employs in her secret workshop, 
the child'' s laws and rides of play^'' 

Looking abroad over nature, he saw that the elements of 
all created forms are few and simple. A point, a line, three 
angles, three triangles, a few four-cornered forms, the poly- 
gons, the circle, comprising within itself all corners ; the 
oval, the ellipse — and the story is told. From the farthest 
star that the telescope has discovered to the tiniest organism 
that the microscope reveals, there is no new element of 
form ; only a wonderful combination of these few. 

Let us examine now some of the materials used in the 
Kindergarten, and the manner in which the law of contrasts 
and their connections is applied. There are eight qualities 
which all things have in common, viz. : matter, form, size, 
weight, sound (as produced by contact with other things), 
color, number (for all things consist of parts, which are esti- 
mated by counting), and position, or direction. Contrasts 
are made by the highest and lowest degrees of a quality ex- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 7 

isting in an object. Connections are made by the interme- 
diate grades. 

Education is the conscious development of all the facul- 
ties, and the means should be adapted to the desired end. 
Development proceeds from the simple to the complex, and 
Froebel has made the ball the first gift to the child, because 
it is the simplest of all the forms by which the infant is sur- 
rounded. It is the type of all organic things in their begin- 
ning, and of the earth on which the little one lives. This 
gift consists of six worsted balls, of a size suited to little 
hands ; three of primary and three of secondary colors. 
There are four reasons for using the ball first of all play- 
things. It is attractive, and, being soft, can injure neither 
the child nor its surroundings. Its shape is favorable to the 
development of the muscles of the hand. Its simple form 
is easily comprehended. It is movable, and can be used in 
various ways. If properly used, it assists in developing the 
child, both physically and mentally. 

Things that resemble each other in one point are to the 
child alike, hence similarities are first seen, and it is only by 
comparison that it learns to recognize difierences. 

After a time, decided preferences are manifested, a ball of 
one particular color being invariably selected from the rest, 
even if great effort is required to reach it. Here, also, the 
will-power asserts itself While the mother plays with her 
child, she accompanies the tossing, rolling, or bounding by 
songs adapted to the purpose, in which certain words are 
used describing the motion, as forward, backward, up, 
down, &c. 

By and by, the child receives a second gift, consisting of 
a sphere, a cube, and a cylinder. This gift is connected with 
the preceding by the shape of the sphere, but differs from it 
in the shape of the cube and the cylinder, and the material 
of which all are made, viz. : wood. 

Again the child compares. He sees the ball ; it is desti- 
tute of the beautiful colors hitherto associated with the 



8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

shape. He grasps it ; it resists the pressure of his hand. 
He looks at the cube, and becomes cognizant of corners and 
edges ; at the cylinder, and gradually learns to see a con- 
nection between the two — the sharp edges of the cube, the 
round surface of the ball. By this gift the child sees also 
that the appearance of things often differs from the reality. 
This is shown by suspending the cube in various ways on a 
string, and causing it to revolve. If the string is attached 
to one corner when it is revolved, a double cone is seen ; if 
from the centre of one surface, a cylinder. Thus the child 
has his first lesson in the necessity of personal investigation, 
and begins to become self-reliant, while, at the same time, 
he learns to found his judgment upon reason. 

But the child is not satisfied with the whole of a thing. 
Witness the mutilated toys of the nursery. Pie wants to 
pull a thing apart, to learn the nature of its substance, and 
the manner in which the article is made, so that the divided 
object is called for after the undivided, not only by principle, 
but by the child himself. Destructiveness is only perverted 
constructiveness. In these two impulses, the desire to know 
and the creative ahility, we see the nature of man. The in- 
stinctive desire to know reveals a nature higher than that of 
the mere animal, and leads to a knowledge of nature ; but 
the creative ability raises him to the likeness of God himself, 
and he becomes — finitely — what God is infinitely, a cre- 
ator. It is the duty of the educator to direct these impulses 
aright. The child wants material, solid objects, easily di- 
vided, and as easily re-united. Hence Froebel's third gift is 
a cube divided once in each dimension, making, in all, eight 
little cubes. 

In using this gift, the box should be carefully removed in 
such a way that the unity of the cube shall not be disturbed. 
The child at once recognizes an old friend, though of some- 
what increased size. In this, as in every gift, the first thing 
is examination of material, and comparison with gifts previ- 
ously received, in order to ascertain the points of similarity 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 9 

and difference. After looking at it as a whole, he should di-' 
vide it into halves, quarters, and eighths, always restoring it 
to its original oneness after each process, that the impression 
of its unity may not be lost. In this way its divisibility is 
rendered more striking. After the gift has been considered 
as a unit, the child may begin to build with it. As the indi- 
vidual child represents the race, and as, in a primitive state 
of things, the untutored savage first begins to invent articles 
of use to him, and conducive to physical comfort, as, for in- 
stance, a rude hut to shelter him from the heat or the in- 
clemency of the weather, so the child first builds articles 
that he sees in daily use, that minister to his physical wel- 
fare. These things Froebel calls forms of life or use. 

In the second stage of development, imperfectly civilized 
men begin to apply their skill to the adornment of person or 
home — from the paint and feathers of the Indian to the 
profuse ornamentation of the nineteenth century belle. 
With a corresponding feeling, the child builds whatever 
seems beautiful to him ; and here his imagination has full 
play, and from the flower of the field to the star glittering 
in the sky, everything is his to enjoy, and to re-produce, ac- 
cording to the measure of his skill. Such figures as these 
are, in the Kindergarten, called forms of beauty. After the 
manufacture of articles of utility and beauty, come the in- 
ventions of science, the practical out-growth of the inherent 
longing to search out the mysteries of the universe ; to trace 
back the mighty river of Providence, bearing on its bosom 
its freight of human life and destiny, to its source among the 
hills of omnipotent love. And answering to this all-con- 
quering impulse of heaven-seeking humanity, are the forms 
of knowledge, as Froebel calls them. These develop the 
ideas of number, size, geometrical form, &c. 

By dividing and sub-dividing the cube, and placing the 
little cubes in various relations to each other, the child comes 
at last to know that, whatever the arrangement may be, the 
unit consists of the same proportion of parts, and that the 



lO KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

solid contents of different figures may be the same, though 
those figures may vary widely in form. 

The fourth gift is a two-inch cube like the third, but di- 
vided into oblongs instead of cubes. The fifth gift is a pro- 
gression of the third ; a three-inch cube divided twice in 
each dimension, making, in all, twenty-seven small cubes, 
three of which are sub-divided diagonally into halves, and 
three into quarters. 

The sixth gift is a progression of the fourth. It is a three- 
inch cube, containing twenty-seven oblongs of the same size 
as those in the fourth, eighteen of which are whole ; six di- 
vided in the width, each into two cubes ; and three by a 
lengthwise cut, each into two columns ; altogether making 
thirty-six pieces. 

The principle of using all these is the same as that em- 
ployed in the third gift, though the forms of knowledge in 
the fifth and sixth extend into the region of higher mathe- 
matics, many years beyond the Kindergarten age. 

The child at first builds from direction, always applying 
the law of opposites, and it is very interesting to watch the 
little faces as some familiar form develops before their eyes. 
It may be, perhaps, a flower-stand, and every eager little one 
is ready to tell of his mother's plants at home, and to exam- 
ine with renewed attention the plants in the room, and the 
stand upon which they are placed. 

The children are encouraged to talk freely — always, of 
course, at the right time — and are trained to express them- 
selves correctly and elegantly. 

After building from direction, they have, with every les- 
son, opportunity for free invention, and very marvellous 
similitudes the little creatures sometimes find. 

Yet every attempt should be accepted, and if the teacher 
is patient in her search, when there seems to be no likeness 
to anything, she will generally find the child's idea based 
upon a truth that has escaped the blunted sensibilities of 
mature age. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. II 

The expression, '^ Forms of Beauty," of course suggests 
symmetry or harmony of proportion, and in building these 
forms the application of the term is justified by the frequency 
with which the children exclaim, " How pretty that is ! " or, 
« Is n't that pretty ? " &c. 

That they are beautiful to the little ones was proved to 
Froebel by noticing the spontaneous plays of children. 

The chief rule to be enforced is not to destroy the forms, 
but to change them into others. This is done by slight but 
orderly changes — always in accordance with the law of op- 
posites — in the position of the blocks. 

For instance, the fundamental figure may be a square, a 
triangle, a hexagon, or any other symmetrical figure, and on 
this centre the nature of the figure will, of course, depend. 
Each fundamental figure may be modified, but whatever 
mode of moving the blocks is adopted should be continued. 
As thus, if the change begins from the outside, it should be 
continued till the figure is completed. If from the inside, 
the same order should be repeated till a certain result is ob- 
tained. 

The main objects in conducting a series are the promotion 
of orderly activity, and the preservation of symmetry. And 
this idea of symmetry soon becomes prominent in the child's 
mind, and he will not be satisfied with an irregular, disor- 
derly arrangement. 

Lit^e children at first have a desire, after a form is built, 
to throw it down, but here applies the truth already stated, 
thrxt destractiveness is only perverted constructiveness. 
After they once see that one form may be developed from 
another, they become so interested in what is coming next, 
that the impulse to throw down and destroy is lost in the 
stronger impulse of curiosity. Whatever form the child 
may build, whether from direction or by his own inventive 
faculties, is always made the subject of conversation, and 
the teacher should always endeavor to preserve, as far as 
possible, the child's individuality ; only curbing, restraining, 



12 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

or divesting when necessary, as the careful gardener seeks 
to develop his plant according . to its particular nature, 
never thwarting, but pruning or guiding, if needful. 

Geometry has a prominent place in Froebel's system, but 
it is to be remembered that it is always in the concrete — 
never in the abstract — and no one more than its great 
founder would have deplored an unequal development of 
the child's faculties. In the forms of use, constant oppor- 
tunities occur for talk upon subjects that shall tend to deepen 
the child's religious impressions, and cultivate pure and 
sweet home affections. The instructor who should merely 
teach geometry by these gifts, though in ever so delightful 
a manner, would indeed feed the child upon chaff while his 
soul went hungering for the wasted wheat. 

In building mother's chair; the sofa where father rests 
after his day of weariness; the school-house to which the big 
brother carries his huge pile of books ; the church where the 
revered pastor makes Sunday seem more sacred, and the 
Divine Father nearer than the earthly one ; the garden, 
where heavenly gifts take loveliest form and color, and tell 
the story so tenderly of blended power and love to the 
little ones (whose angels do always behold the face of their 
Father); what countless opportunities for cultivating "what- 
soever things are pure and honest, and of good report." 

After becoming familiar with a series of forms, the chil- 
dren are trained to direct the others in building; and this 
power of directing requires exact knowledge, based upon 
careful observation. It is impossible to direct well (and I 
think all teachers have learned this from expeiience) with- 
out a thorough knowledge of the subject in hand, and a care- 
ful consideration of clear, exact expressions. Yet little 
children, five years old, in the Kindergarten often give di- 
rections that, for clearness, directness, and propriety of 
terms, put older people to the blush. 

In all the occupations of the Kindergarten, after the chil- 
dren have learned to do things from direction, they are en- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 3 

couraged to invent for themselves, and whatever lesson is 
conducted, it is never to be forgotten that the child's three- 
fold relation is to be always kept in mind — to nature, to 
man, and to God. 

" Earth's crammed with heaven, 
And every common bush afire with God : 
But only he who sees takes off his shoes. 
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries, 
And daub their natural faces, unaware, 
More and more from the first similitude." 

If one could see as the Master saw, who spake to man, in 
parables alone, the connection between the things that are 
made, and the spirit that informs the whole, what divine 
service were possible to mankind ! 

" Natural things, 
And spiritual — who separates these two 
In art, in morals, or the social drift, 
Tears up the bond of nature and brings death; 
Paints futile pictures ; writes unreal verse ; 
Leads vulgar days ; deals ignorantly with men ; 
Is wrong, in short, at all points." 

In buildicg, it is to be impressed upon the child that he is 
in every case to use all his material — that each piece is an 
essential part of the whole. 

Perhaps, following out this hint, one might conclude that 
in the realm of life every part of a whole is essential to that 
integer. One longs to know what was in Froebel's thought 
in connection with this. How he must have desired to im- 
part a portion of his insight to his fellows, that they might 
see and know ! 

For us who are here to-day, to represent the system of 
Froebel, while we acknowledge, with deep appreciation and 
gratitude, the quality of the instruction we have received, 
we can but lament the shortness of the course, and hope 
that, though it is ended, it will prove to have been a seed 
planted in good ground, that has even now, perchance, a 
little root, from which some develojDment may be expected. 



14 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

" Flower from root, 
And spiritual from natural, grade by grade, 
In all our life." 

We believe in Froebel's system, thoroughly, because we 
think it is in accordance with nature, that can do no wrong ; 
and if we prove but j^oor exponents, 

"I, 
"Who love my art, would never wish it lower. 
To suit my stature," 

but would continually cry, " What I know not, teach Thou 
me!" 

One said, a few days ago, that if this system were adopted 
in our city, it would in many cases be merely a nursery for 
the neglected children of the poor. Is that anything 
against it? That the rich and cultivated need it and appre- 
ciate it in many instances, is proved in Boston to-day. But 
how much more the poor who must work for their daily 
bread ! 

Who need skill of hand, quickness of perception, holy and 
happy thoughts, if not the sons and daughters of toil ? Is 
skilled labor so common, and are our prisons so few and un- 
occupied, that we can afford to let the children between the 
ages of three and five years, swarm our streets as they do, 
unwashed, unkempt, cared for by no man ; learning, before 
their school-life begins even, the vilest corruption ? There 
is nothing fanciful about this. I see it every day of my 
life, alas ! with acute pain ! " Take heed that ye despise not 
one of these little ones ! " Let those who direct the build- 
ing of State look to it that its foundations are secure. 

" Witli noiseless sliding of stone to stone, 
The mystic church of God has grown." 

And let us remember that this temple of Solomon, built 
with such wonderful skill that it has ever since been the 
symbol of the spiritual church, is still more truly the type of 
the " temple of God in man," of which the Master spake, 
and that 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 5 

" All are architects of fate, 

"Working in these walls of time ; 

Some with massive deeds and great, 

Some with ornaments of rhyme. 

Nothing useless is, or low; 

Each thing in its place is best : 
And what seems but idle show, 

Strengthens and supports the rest. 

For the structure that we raise. 

Time is with materials filled ; 
Our to-days and yesterdays 

Are the blocks with which we build. 

Truly shape and fashion these ; 

Leave no yawning gaps between ; 
Think not because no man sees 

Such things will remain unseen. 

In the elder days of art, 

Builders wrought with great care 
Each minute and unseen part ; 

Eor the gods see everywhere. 

Let us do our work as well, 

Both the unseen and the seen ; 
Make the place where gods may dwell 

Beautiful, entire, and clean; 

Else our lives are incomplete ; 

Working in these walls of time 
Broken stair- ways, where the feet 

Stumble as they seek to climb. 

Build to-day, then, strong and sure. 

With a firm and ample base, 
And ascending, and secure, 

Shall to-morrow find its place. 

Thus alone can we attain 

To -those turrets where the eye 
Sees the world as one vast plain. 

And one boundless reach of sky. 



Boston, May 20, 1873. 



1 6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

PLAY OP CHILDUEN. 

BY HENRIETTA NOA, OF THE MARY INSTITUTE, ST. LOUIS. 

" Von Unbedeutenden bedeutet 
Bedeutendes nicht vie] ; 
Viel von Bedeutenden bedeutet 
Ein unbedeutend Spiel." 

Fr. Buckert. 

Is the play of children not too important to be left unused, 
unnoticed, and unguided ? If it is true that play, or the 
employment of his leisure, characterizes the grown-up and 
fully developed man, so that in the words of Schiller, " "We 
shall never be mistaken if we look for his ideal of beauty in 
the same direction in which he satisfies his play-impulse," 
why shall we not teach our children, — and do it in their ten- 
derest age, when they are most unconscious of our designs, 
— to play, as the ripe artist does, with beauty; and, to use 
the same noble thinker's formula, teach them "to play 
only with beauty," as well as "to play with beauty alone"? 

It is not merely our children, but all men, who must desist 
from perpetual work and learn to play ; it is the stepping in 
of grown-up people to the circle of children at their play, 
which completes our natures, mutually. Age takes youth's 
and childhood's sweet blossoms to refresh that pining lan- 
guor which work and suffering have brought on ; and the 
child learns, unawares, the more elevated and earnest tone 
which the nobler forms of cultivated and experienced minds, 
chastened through suffering, press into their service and 
upon their imitative sympathy. 

By all means, " let children play," and play with them ! 

If, on finding and recognizing the laws which underlie 
play, the directing mind of the elder person wisely so dis- 
poses all as to strengthen the mind and health of the chil- 
dren, to render their disposition peaceful and harmonious, 
their character truthful, upright, frank, and strict in morals, 
yet loving and indulgent to others, whilst exacting towards 
themselves, what harm is thereby done ? Nay, have we not 
rather reached an exceedingly welcome advance towards our 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 7 

future aim, if elements are united for excellence, to be con- 
solidated afterwards? It is not profitable to separate or 
even to distinguish true play from real, all-absorbing work, 
for each is the other, if each is really what it is called. The 
child, when hard at play, must exert all powers, mental and 
physical, to their full measure ; the display of all our facul- 
ties at work is their play. Play is the free, unconstrained 
expression of our faculties, is an occupation of our choice, of 
which the success pleases us, and the failure does not dis- 
courage us. True play is recreation, joy, oblivion of our- 
selves, of all but the dreamy contentment of breathing and 
feeling. What is art, but the same thing? What is the art 
of life, but the same thing? What is Nature doing, in her 
influence on us, but the same thing ? What is the work of 
leisure, of genius, but the same thing? Were not all dis- 
coveries and inventions made at a moment of play ? Was 
not every sublime concejjtion a dream, a play, a flash of the 
free, creative mind? Such play we mean when we join our 
children, and would rather gather them around us as Friedrich 
Froebel did, than leave them to their chance-play. Of such 
importance as we see, is play, that we wish to husband it, 
through as wise a system as any study given at our schools. 
Why at all separate and distinguish work and play ? We 
wish to train the morals and keep and render more beautiful 
the body, whilst we train the intellect ; and enlightenment 
does train the morals, and brighten the expression of the 
countenance, and improve the movement and carriage of the 
body, provided we do not forget to give some care and at- 
tention to the position and outward appearance of our pupils. 
Bodily exertion, which merely cultivates the muscles, is 
valueless ; all the powers of soul and body, and above all, 
the vigorous play of the moral faculties, must at the same 
time be awakened. Nothing ought to be taught otherwise, 
than so as to engage the whole man, so that " the whole soul 
learns at once."* But "pushing" is wrong, and is the vice 

* " So lernt mit Eins die ganze seele. "—iesaing'. 



1 8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

of modern teaching. We are to finish a given course of 
study at a given time ; we get anxious to achieve this, and 
we press work forward which ought to go on as leisurely as 
time and tide go on. We should accomplish as much in 
kind and quality, were we less anxious as to the positive 
quantity. This free growth of the child is meant by Fried- 
rich Froebel's system of gardening. He wanted to avoid 
the term "school," because he meant the children to be left 
free in their individuality and development, and would not 
tie and trim too much, as many of his unthinking followers 
have done. 

A too vigorous system equally frightens from play and 
from work, and where we wish to gain so much, we surely 
should not frighten and fetter the free child. Therefore we 
play — that is all. His will is left free ; but help is freely ten- 
dered, because enjoyment is the result of such tender. Of 
course, wisdom and genius, not merely the methods and sys- 
tem of a pedagogue, are required of 2, playing teacher, and 
he who has no calling for it should not undertake it. We 
have too often left in unskilful hands, and with uneducated 
persons, the child at his most plastic age. How absurd, to 
leave thus the most vigorous mental and physical impulse to 
chance ! If there is anything bright and cheering to our 
life, it is the play with our children ; if anything can give 
delight to a child, it is the interest his parent or friendly 
guide takes in his play and amusement. Let us work in 
Froebel's spu'it, who wrote upon the entrance of his Garden : 
" Come, let us live for our children ! " 

We admit that there has been made of this well-inspired 
treatment of children, now and then, the most mechanical, 
mind-and-life-killing routine; this was done by uninspired 
pedants. To such, Froebel might say what J. J. Rousseau 
said to the father, who, presenting his son to him, told him : 
" My son has been brought up strictly in accordance with 
your methods as explained in ' Emile.' " " So much the worse 
for you and your son !'" said Rousseau. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 9 

But is a thing not good because it may be abused ? On 
the contrary, I hold with Niebuhr that "What cannot be 
abused is of no use." 

An additional charm, nay, an essential need, is the amal- 
gamation of play and work. If joy and pleasure result 
from it, recreation dwells in them. If they are absent, 
neither play nor work can prosper. .Joy in work and play, 
the sensation of doing something with and for others, and 
of feeling one's growth (sich werden fuhlen), trains morally 
and normally, and can never overstrain the power of will or 
attention. If we dispose the child to love what is right and 
good, the effort required for its performance becomes easy. 
But to do lovingly and easily a required task becomes a tal- 
ent for it ; and thus we form talent in early childhood by ju- 
dicious play. The pleasure inherent in the normal exercise 
of our faculties, especially of those we possess in a high de- 
gree, will be seen to be paramount to the delight caused by 
the satisfaction of a longing desire, to the fulfilment of a 
fervent wish. The practical application of phrenology must 
aid to bring the time near, when each of us does (teaches 
and learns) what he would like best to do, and what — 
which is the same thing — he can do best. We want no 
urging to accomplish the bidding of an inward desire, and 
all direction which makes this desire clear to us, is a wel- 
come, friendly power over us. Restraint and constraint are 
at an end. The efforts children make in the heat of play 
equal those so readily made by the rider on his hobby, who 
does not spare the spur. 

Is it true that to live for othei-s and to give them pleasure 
is no element in the play of a child ? Is it not rather a great 
joy to the child to do something for those he loves ? Does 
he not often ask : " Can you give me something to do ? " 
and does he not draw into play such doing ? In the Kinder- 
garten the youngest child is able to prepare a handiwork of 
his own as a present to a parent or sister, such as a mat, a 
beaker, a picture-frame, &c. ; and his joyous excitement while 



20 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

at work, must be witnessed to be acknowledged, so constant 
and so inspiring to do his best it is. And play here calls in 
earnest meditation, which true play ought to promote. All 
original thoughts and conceptions, all flights of fancy, were 
born in play ; both man and child must play, in order to cre- 
ate. In play, perfection and usefulness are sought with 
more constancy and yearning than in labor. In labor we 
try to satisfy others ; in play our own ideality, a purifier and 
refiner of the utmost severity, presides ; then nothing short 
of our own contentment and approval, nothing short of truth, 
and beauty, and perfection, can quiet and soothe the 
attentive soul. But the law and necessity of use and work 
must never hover as the aim before the mind. It is a disin- 
terested devotion, everywhere, at all times, that must be the 
impulse. For its own sake an action should be achieved. 
Blessed is the child who is under such a wise direction and 
guidance that it does, joyfully and as in play, all that it has 
to do. A task imposed without consent from within is a 
gloomy raindrop without shine and cheering ; but the sun 
upon it, and the right manner of looking at it, will change 
it into a brilliant diamond, or a many-colored pi'ism, delight- 
ing the eye. It is possible to make, as the proverb says, a 
toil of pleasure ; it is possible to turn even play into drudg- 
ery as easily as we may make work and duty the joyous 
goal towards which we dance and leap. Attraction is the 
law which brings affinity; the young are easily attracted, 
and most surely through play. 

With regard to " destruction," as a necessary part of play, 
we must not forget that in modern times wiser, clearer 
views have taught us that construction is relative to de- 
struction ; that the latter is constantly and necessarily going 
on with the former, and furnishes aid and materials for it. 
If I want to build, I must kill the tree, and perhaps destroy 
a great deal of life and natural beauty ; I must cut, and 
shape, and alter, and ruin a great deal, in order to get my 
object accomplished (a house and its surroundings, such as I 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 21 

require). Every material of which I wish to make use, will 
have first to be tortured and cut into such form and shape 
as I want it. It was with philosophic sagacity that the great 
German phrenologist called the organ of " destructiveness '' 
"activeness" (der Thatigkeitssinn). And the Americans 
have proved this problem, for they received into their free 
territories the most destructive elements of Europe, men of 
fierce passions, of murderous inclinations and deeds, and 
have earned blessings and progress from this ; for these same 
men, when hewing down the wild forest, and constructing 
the first huts and houses of an inhabited place, found their 
fiendish energies directed into safe channels, and their labori- 
ous employment was a tribute of gratitude to this hospitable 
land ; it also blended into pride and independence charac- 
ters and lives which their native home and country had cast 
out as hurtful and thrown away as evil. Right direction and 
employment changes destructive energy into constructive 
power. Thus Goethe, who had a masterly mind for all 
principles and laws, whether of poetry, education, or univer- 
sal nature, advises, with true artistic feeling and wisdom, the 
anatomist and student of medicine not to cut so much or 
merely the limbs of the human body to pieces, but to com- 
plete his study by forming arms and every part of the human 
frame, and also its interior, in faithful imitation of nature ; a 
manikin, such as we now construct. 

But forming and destroying, building and tearing down, 
are, as well as in nature, one and the same thing in the work 
of the man and the play of the child ; we have no power to 
exclude either part. As in nature, life and death are blended 
with no change or rest, movement is play or is labor 
and, as in nature, we wish in education to prevent absolute 
stagnation. "We wish to help our children to live and to 
forget themselves in existence ; such oblivion is true life, is 
idleness, the dolce far nieiite, and yet is the heartiest 
work and play. If method has to be employed in order to 
bring about this great result, it has to be hidden and central 



22 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

like the laws of the universe, never on the surface. This 
makes the difference of pedantry and education. The two 
are far removed from one another. When pedantry breathes 
on the young blossoms their fair bloom withers; it would be 
better to leave all to chance ; but when, with creative touch, 
genius approaches, all the flowers in the garden of youth ex- 
pand. A wise, inspired, loving flower-friend is what they 
need, with enough experience to lead and not impede them. 
Him they welcome who spreads joy and activity abroad, 
and gives them their spring of strength and freshness. He 
elevates them, though he plays with them, to a noble height, 
and this is education. For nothing are living beings so 
grateful as for elevation. 



BOOK NOTICES. 

J. L. Peters, 599 Broadway, New York, has just pub- 
lished, in a very small quarto of forty pages. Plays for the 
Kindergarten, as introduced in the gymnastic exercises of 
Mary Institute, St. Louis, Mo., by Miss Henrietta Noa ; the 
music by Charles John Richter, and the directing words in 
both English and German. The price is 25 cents. 

In Miss Peabody's and Mrs. Horace Mann's Kindergarten 
Ghiide^ published by J. W. Schermerhorn, 14 Bond Street, 
New York, are twelve plays set to Froebel's own music, to- 
gether with two hymns ; one being a metrical paraphrase of 
the Lord's prayer. The price is 11.25. 

These books can also be found in Boston, at Nathaniel C. 
Peabody's Homoeopathic Pharmacy, 56 Beach Street. 



" My kind mother did me an altogether invaluable service. 
She taught me less indeed by word than act, and by daily 
reverent look and habitude, her own simple version of the 
Christian faith. My mother, with a true woman's heart, and 
fine, though uncultivated, sense, was — with strictest sense of 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 2$ 

the "word — religious ! How instinctively the good grows 
and propagates itself, even among the weedy entanglements 
of evil ! The highest whom I knew on earth, I have said, 
bowed down with awe unspeakable before a Higher in 
heaven. Such things, especially in infancy, reach inwards 
to the very core of our being ; mysteriously does a Holy 
of Holies build itself into visibility in the mysterious depths ; 
and Reverence, the divinest in man, springs forth undying 
from its mean envelopment of fear. Would 'st thou rather 
be a peasant's son that knew, were it never so rudely, there 
was a God in heaven and in man, or a duke's son that only 
knew there were two and thirty quarters on the family 
coach ?" — Carlyle. 



[From Froebel's " Mutter-und-Kose Lieder."] 

How blest the mother ! striving, day by day, 
To train her child by healthful, loving play ; 
Her happy face pours forth creative light, 
Warming to life the human blossom bright ; 
Where 'er the sun doth in full glory blaze. 
There turns the flower to catch the living rays. 



My baby ! ope' thine eyes of azure deep, 
That mother, through them, to thy heart may creep ; 
Thou quickenest all my joys with thy sweet smile. 
Thy shocks of laughter weary thoughts beguile ; 
Give me thy rosy mouth, that mutual kiss 
May seal thy mother's ever fresh'ning bliss ; 
Reach me thy hands, so fair, so soft, so round, 
They clasp a chain with which my heart is bound ; 
Throw round my neck thy plump, caressing arms, 
And mine shall fold my darling free from harms ; 
Plant firm thy feet upon thy mother's lap, 
It shall support thee, save thee from mishap ; 
Repose in sleep upon thy mother's breast. 
When tired of playfulness thou sink 'st to rest ; 
Not food alone my darling seeks from me, 
But, to his natural instincts true, 
He seeks, if blindly, for soul-nurture too, 
And feeds his heart upon my sympathy. 



E3- ® T'EBZCSfr-ElE^, 
iVos. 22 and 24: Frankfort Street, New York,, 

Keeps on hand an extensive and well-assorted supply of 

KINDERGARTEN GIFTS 

(OCCUPA.TION MATERIAIj), 

Of foreign as well as domestic manufacture. Particular attention 
is called to E. Steiger's stock of 

BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS, 

In Geeman, English, and French, on the 

KINDERGARTEN SYSTEM. 



The New Education, as Fhoebel's System is properly called, is here rep- 
resented in all that is requisite to its integrity and full development, by every 
publication of note on the subject issued in 

AMERICA, GERMANY, ENGLAND, FRANCE, and BELGIUM. 

E. Steigek's Agents in Germany, England, and elsewhere in Europe, are 
instructed to forward new publications appertaining to the Kindergarten System 
immediately on their appearance. Catalogues sent on application. 



The following American Publications on the Kindergarten System will be for- 
warded, post-paid, upon receipt of price ! 

A. Douai. The Kindergarten. A Manual for the introduction of Froehel'.i 
System of Primary Education into Public Schools, and for the use of 

Mothers and Private Teachers. With 16 plates. Cloth $> t.OO 

(The text of the songs and poetry is mostly in English and German.) 

Mrs. Matilda H. Krlege. The Child; its Nature and Relations. An 
elucidation of FroebePs Principles of Education. A free rendering of 
the German of the Baroness Marenholtz-Bulow. Second edition, x'p. 148, 
printed on heavy tinted paper, tastefully bound in bevelled cloth, gilt top, $1.00 

Mrs. H. Mann and EUzabetli P. Peabody. Moral Culture of Infancy, 

and Kindergarten Guide. With Music for the Plays. Cloth .... $1.25 

Kdw. 'Wietoe. The Paradise of Childhood. A Manual for instruction in 
Friedrich Froebel's Educational Principles, and a Practical Guide to 
Kindergartners. With 74 Plates. 4to $3.00 



E. STEIGER, 22 and 24 Erankfort Street, New York. 



indetptktt ^tmti^tx. 



A Monthly of 24 pages. 
EDITED BY ELIZABETH P. PEABODT. 



No. 7. — NOVEMBER, 1873. 



Payments of $1.00 to be made to E. P. Peabody, 19 Follen Street, Cambridge. 
Specimen numbers and subscription paper to be seen at N. C. Peabody's 
Homoeopathic Pharmacy, 56 Beach Street, Boston; at E. Steigeb's Publishing 
House, 22 and 24 Frankfort Street, New York; and at Pcttnam & Sons' Book 
Store, corner 23rd Street and 4th Avenue, New York. 



WHAT SHOULD THE KmDERaARTNER KNOW AND BE ? 

BY MISS D. A. CURTIS. 

(Read on occasion of her graduation from Miss Garland's Normal Training 
Class, May, 1873.) 

We look for fitness in any vocation in some degree, at 
least, and where is there greater need than in the education 
of little children ? What are these little children ? Men rule 
the destinies of nations, yet all men were little children once. 
A mighty power, yet to be wielded, lies in these tiny hands. 
Is it not, then, a responsible thing to undertake the guidance 
of these little ones ? The child has a threefold nature to 
be developed — a physical, an intellectual, and a spiritual ; and 
true education consists in the harmonious development of 
all three. 

To supply the conditions of development systemati- 
cally is the great secret of success in education. The 
Kindergarten furnishes the means to aid this threefold de- 
velopment as, we believe, no other system of education does 
in these early years ; and it is the work of the kindergartner 
to guide and regulate the development, by giving direction 
to the impulses and activities of the child in the use of these 
means. To do this she must go out to meet the child with 
all the experiences of her threefold nature ; her physical, her 
intellectual, her spiritual being. These are brought to bear 
upon the child in its impressible state. It is this impressible- 
ness and the lasting effects of influences at this early age 



2 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

that make it so important that the impressions be such as will 
best aid the development. The child's world of experience 
has been very limited. He has not yet learned to discrimin- 
ate in any great degree between the true and the false, the 
real and the unreal, but with the natural faith of childhood he 
looks up to his teacher and receives those lessons that are to 
so influence his after life. The germs of faculties within 
him — some partially developed, others yet dormant — need 
nourishment, need direction. 

A true kindergartner should herself have been through 
the Kindergarten ; but this is impossible at the present time, 
as the system is still new in this country, and we can only, 
profiting by the knowledge of our own deficiences, strive to 
do for others what we feel was neglected in ourselves. One 
can never wholly make up for neglect in early education ; 
whatever the later attainments, there remain defects either 
conscious to the individual or others, showing a want of 
harmony in development, and making the last possibility, the 
sad " might have been," more evident. Although the kin- 
dergartner may not be what she would wish, yet thei-e is a 
standard below which she should not fall, and there is an 
ideal she should ever keep in view. 

Physically, she should be able to take part in the plays of 
the children, throwing herself into them with something of 
the zest and joyousness of childhood, recognizing the full 
meaning and use of play in the work of development. She 
should be one with her children, a leader on whom they can 
rely. 

A thorough elementary education is absolutely essential. 
A kindergartner must be able to use her mother tongue 
correctly, for the conversational element is the life of the 
Kindergarten, and unless the principles underlying it are 
understood and carried into practice by the teacher herself, 
how can she be a proper guide for the child? There is law 
underlying everything, in the use of words, as well as the 
use of tools. Are not words tools which we use for the ex- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 3 

pression of thought ? Must we not use them with the same 
discrimination to give precision, beauty, harmony? The 
formation of language is a very important part of the Kin- 
dergarten work, for the child not only expresses his ideas by 
his mechanical creations, but also by words describing accu- 
rately the forms he produces, and the steps leading to those 
productions. Clear, well-defined descriptions should always 
be required. The child should also direct others in produc- 
ing certain results. This exercise will give him a power of 
language such as many of us older children feel sadly the need 
of, and will be of incalculable benefit to him. How impor- 
tant, then, that the teacher herself understand the laws un- 
derlying the formation of language. 

The idea that anyone with only an ordinary education, 
and, indeed, with almost no education at all, is able to teach 
little children, is, we trust, fast disappearing from the popu- 
lar mind, as we know it has disappeared from, if it ever was 
in the minds of really intelligent persons. 

But that the appreciation of well trained teachers for 
young children is not what it should be, is shown in the de- 
fects of our common-school system, which provides salaries 
for teachers in proportion to the grade of school taught. It 
is not many years (and without doubt is the same now in 
some places, though not in this city, it is true) since young 
inexperienced teachers of the lowest attainments were in- 
variably given the lowest grades, and then worked their way 
up with proportionally increasing salaries, their vacant places 
to be supplied with a fresh lot of inexperienced ones. The 
teachers were promoted the same as children in schools, 
experimenting as they went along, on the young, impressible 
minds given to their charge. It may be said there must be 
a beginning to every experience, but let not that experience 
be obtained at the expense of these little ones. Let the 
standard be higher, and let those that cannot attain to it do 
something else better suited to their capacities. Let those 
that are thoroughly fitted for their work be given these trust 



4 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

places ; places as honorable as any, and with equal salaries. 
It is poor economy, to say the least, to cheat these young 
natures ; it only makes harder work for other teachers, and 
impressions are received that can never be wholly eradicated. 

What a beautiful thing it would be to see a child educated 
fropa the beginning up to maturer years just as he should be ; 
but this we cannot expect with our frail natures. Though 
we may not attain perfection, we may reach after it. 

No degree of attainment, no amount of high culture, is 
lost upon this tender age, so let no one think she knows too 
much to teach a child. There is great danger of knowing 
too little, no fear of knowing too much. Knowledge is 
gained by experience, so the greater experience one has had 
in the battles of mind and matter, the better would ,she be 
fitted for the work. 

The occupations of the Kindergarten are such as require 
a mature mind to really appreciate them, to understand the 
underlying principles, and to present them to the child in a 
lawful manner. 

It is essential for the kindergartner to have, at least, an 
elementary knowledge of Geometry, for its elements are 
taught by concrete forms throughout the occupations ; thus 
making the consideration of it in the abstract, in later years, 
easy work compared with the usual experience. In the 
Kindergarten we never reach the abstract, but, beginning 
with the solid concrete form, gradually approach it. The 
kindergartner should also be familiar with Botany, for she not 
only has human plants to take care of, to watch their needs 
and peculiar individual traits and nourish them accordingly, 
but she has plants of the vegetable world which she 
gives to the child as his own, to learn about, watch and nour- 
ish, as she does the child himself. Bat she should never 
give him anything she does not thoroughly understand. 
These plants the children learn to love and consider as al- 
most human, and they talk about their going to sleep, being 
thirsty, wanting the sun and the rain, as if they were senti- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 5 

ent beings. This is a very important part of their education, 
this observation of the processes of nature, the working 
of unseen forces, for it develops their spiritual being, and by 
it they are led up to the great, unseen Cause. All religion 
begins with natural religion. 

It is important that the kindergartner also be familiar 
with Natural History, with the minei'al world, and, indeed, 
with all natural science, for what does she not need to know 
to aid her in her object lessons? She must strive to make 
the child familiar with all nature surrounding him, as well as 
with the mechanical works of man, which he tries himself to 
make in miniature with his building material. 

Some voice for song, and ear for rhythm, are essential to 
lead the childi'en in the airs that accompany all their move- 
ment plays, but if a fine voice be added with an appreciation 
of the poetry of rhythmical motion, how much more inspirit- 
ing to the children, how much more heartily will they enter 
into the play, catching the tone of their leader. 

There should also be a thorough knowledge of linear 
drawing, for though Froebel's system rests upon the com- 
bination of a few simple elements, yet the teacher's individ- 
uality has scope, and should be exercised. Anything added 
to the knowledge of linear drawing is not lost. 

The inventive faculty of the teacher is constantly called 
into exercise, in guiding and interesting the child in his work, 
and in endeavoring to draw out his creative ability, and is 
therefore a necessary aid. 

There cannot be too much study, familiarity with both the 
works of nature and the works of art. General culture can- 
not be over estimated. It will give a refinement of manner, 
of tone, as well as intelligence, so much to be desired in the 
kindergartner, and we must never forget how easily the 
child acquires the manners and tones of those in charge of it. 
Hence the deprecated custom of leaving children so much 
in charge of ignorant servants whose expressions and man- 
ners they so readily catch, making a counter influence for 
the kindergartner which it is hard to overcome. 



6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

Skilfulness of hand and a correct eye for form in all the 
work, especially modelling, are much to be desired, and to a 
certain extent are really necessary. Habits of neatness and 
order, it is scarcely necessary to say, are expected in the 
Kindergarten. 

She must be an example to the children in all of these 
things out of respect to them, if from nothing else. " Take 
heed that ye offend not one of these little ones." 

What the kindergartner should be, though considered 
last, is really first in importance. One has said, " Except ye 
be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not 
enter the kingdom of heaven." The kindergartner should 
seek to have this same childlike spirit, and learn of those 
whom she is endeavoring to teach. Where can she go for 
lessons of greater purity, guilelessness, than to childhood, 
taking the child Christ as the type. Let her humble her- 
self as a little child, seeing her shortcomings, and look to a 
higher than human power for strength and guidance. The 
true kindergartner will rise to her daily work among the 
tender plants with the prayerful thought : 

" Up to me sweet childhood looketh, 
Heart, and mind, and soul awake, 
Teach me of Thy ways, O Father, 
For sweet childhood's sake. 

In their young hearts, soft and tender, 
Guide my hand good seed to sow, 

That its blossoming may praise Thee 
Whereso'er they go. 

Give to me a cheerful spirit, 

That my little flock may see 
It is good and pleasant service 

To be taught of Thee. 

Father, order all my footsteps ; 

So direct my daily way, 
That, in following me, the children 

May not go astray. 



KINDER GAR TEN MESSENGER. 

Let Thy holy counsel lead me ; 

Let Thy light before me shine, 
That they may not stumble over 

Word or deed of mine. 

Draw us hand in hand to Jesus, 

For His word's sake, uuforgot, 
* Let the little ones come to me, 
And forbid them not.'" 



COMMAND OF LANQUAGE TO BE GAINED IN KINDEHGAETEN. 

Many very kind things have been said to me, with respect 
to the Messengbr ; but it is also true, that the variety of 
suggestions made to me is rather bewildering, since I have a 
strong desire to meet all wishes and demands. I admit that 
the Nursery Department in the later numbers has been 
rather meagre ; but I hope somewhat to compensate in this 
one by giving the ti*anslation of two of the notes of Froebel, 
upon the vignettes of the Mutter und Kose Liedei*. 

The kindergartner mediates between the nursery and the 
school; but it is seldom that children are brought to the 
Kindergarten perfectly well prepared by the nursery, and 
therefore the kindergartner needs to acquaint herself with the 
mother's special vocation and duty, in order to repair the 
deficiences of the nursery in the Kindergarten. A perfect 
mother's nursery would turn out the children with power to 
express their little life in words transparent with their feel- 
ings and fancies. It is natural for children to talk as soon as 
they get command of their organs ; and that they get com- 
mand of their organs at all so early as they do, shows how 
strong is the impulse of human communication. Indeed, 
communication in words is the the element of the human 
intellect. The impossibility of it between men and brute 
animals differences brute from human life. There is not 
such difference of life between man and God, as between 
brute and man ; because nature, of which language is the 
echo, is truly a word that God speaks to man. The Word was 



« KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

in the beginning, identified with the Being of God, and 
spoken to man by things, though his darkness comprehended 
it no' till it was made flesh and dwelt among us, speaking 
with all human organs. 

Imigination is bafl3.ei in endeavoring to conceive how 
hu^man comrnunication began ; we see how it begins now with 
every individual, by the help of the mother, and those who 
supply the mother's place. The articulate words are defined 
to the child by gestures, and expression of face, and modu- 
lation of tones ; and the play of the organs of speech may be 
analyzed into symbolization of the moving or dead pheno- 
mena, by motions of lips and tongue against the palate and 
the teeth, while the inward and causal is expressed by the 
motions of the throat modifying the breath as it comes up 
from the centre of life and the source of energy. But the 
child learns words empirically at first; it is an enjoyment 
reserved for the adult mind to appreciate scientifically the 
symbolization involved in single words. In teaching child- 
ren language, as well as everything else, we must be careful 
to give them — not scientific process — but the result of 
science. The mother and kindergartner cannot themselves 
know too much about language ; and a part of the qualifica- 
tion for the care of children in the nursery and Kindergarten 
is elegance of expression ; for this reason, Miss Garland, in 
examining candidates for her training school, requires proof 
of the not very common power to read, speak, and write 
good English. 

This power is foften attained almost insensibly by being 
brought up in good society, which may generally be found 
in New England, wherever the Bible (which in our translation 
is "a well of English undefiled") is intelligently and enthusias- 
tically — not fanatically and superstitiously — read. 

But where the companionship has been coarse, irreligious, 
and illiterate, scientific study of language is more or less 
indispensable ; and in America, where the educated and un- 
educated are so mixed in all companies, there must be school 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 9 

discipline in grammar, logic, and composition, if we would 
be sure not to intellectually demoralize children with our in- 
accurate use of words. 

And this brings me naturally to another subject, upon 
which I have had several letters, asking me whether children 
in the Kindergarten should be taught by Germans ? There 
is no question with respect to such exceptional instances as 
Miss Alma Kriege and Mrs. Kraus Boelte ; the former born 
in America, and beginning life with talking English ; and the 
latter having lived and taught so many years in England ; 
besides that they both had thorough school training in 
English. But in several instances German kindergartners 
have been imported. It is my firm conviction that instead 
of importing kindergartners, we must educate for the art 
Americans, who can speak to children in the language of 
their mothers. For the work to be done in the Kindergarten 
is the formation of the understanding, and the inspiration of 
the heart; and the most important thing is that there should 
be no confusion or ambiguity of thought. Clear, definite ideas, 
and unity of word and thought are important to ensure 
truthfulness of character, veracity of speech, and sweetness 
of temper. If children are begun with aright in this re- 
spect, they will go on right of themselves afterwards, for 
they will know when words are used that convey no mean- 
ing to them, and will be themselves fluent enough to ask 
their meaning ; or will show by their uneasy and dissatisfied 
manner, that you are " darkening counsel with words with- 
out knowledge." In the German-American Kindergartens, 
both languages are used indifferently, and the German teach- 
ers defend the practice. But though children may begin to 
learn another language immediately after they leave Kinder- 
garten, I feel very clear that it is best that while they are 
yet in it they should learn to think only in one, and that 
be the language which they speak at home and with their 
mothers. It is much to learn to think in one language. 
This does not preclude learning the words of a song in 



lO KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

another tongue, which may serve to keep their organs of 
pronunciation flexible and capable. 

Another question, often asked me, respects the time for 
learning to read. Professor Monroe says in his Second 
Reader, just published, " A child who cannot talk intelligently 
cannot read intelligently," — nor intelligibly^ he might 
have added ; and here is suggested a sufficient reason why 
reading should not be taught to children before there has 
been given something like a rounded development of their 
nature by talking with them. To be able to talk is necessary 
to the understanding of the written speech of others. But 
words cannot be used intelligently by children or anybody 
else, unless they are seen in their relation to things as they 
stand in the order of nature. When children are merely 
impressed with particulars, they ejaculate, they do not talk. 
It is only when things are regarded by them in relation with 
themselves that there is consecutive thinking and they begin 
to make sentences. Now the Kindergarten method of setting 
children to work to produce objective effects by movements 
and manipulations directed to some attainable end, produces 
real thinking, or the act of the understanding. Thinking 
(appreciating things) developes the mind, in short. 

But between being impressed by things and understand- 
ing nature, there is possible another activity, which we 
call fancy, — the action of the will among impressions in a 
wild, lawless way, — which is, however, a witness to the fact 
that the personal soul is pre-existent to the understanding of 
nature, and has a communion of sovereignty with the Author 
of nature. The effects of the play of fancy are combinations 
of sensuous images that give a certain pleasure, because they 
make us fully conscious of this inherent sovereignty. Child- 
ren often do things merely because they can. This explains 
the mischief and destruction they are liable to do quite in- 
nocently, when they have not been taught how to use their 
faculties constructively. Fancy is a corresponding work 
done in the sphere of impressions, which they combine gro- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. II 

tesquely, because they can^ and enjoy the contrast of what 
they fancy with what really is in nature. But the pleasure 
of fanciful creation soon exhausts itself, unless alternated with 
acts of the understanding. To think nature, affords new 
materials for fancy, freshly given by God, as it were ; and by 
and by the laws that underlie the universe rule the play of 
fancy, which rises into imagination, which is a more substan- 
tial image of the creative power of God. Fancy is an act of 
the mind below thinking ; Imagination is an act of the 
mind above thinking. Children are generally fanciful, 
especially if left to themselves, but this lawless activity 
of mind may become a disease. Robustness of mental power 
comes from the thinking for which there must be the interven- 
tion of an educator, who, knowing nature in an orderly man- 
ner, can present it in objective order, as the kindergartner 
does in the occupations and plays. The greater the imagina- 
tive impulse in the child, the more important it is that he learn 
to appreciate the beauties and forms of nature, and that the 
words that he uses become indissolubly united to the natural 
objects which give them significance. For it is not the 
office of nature to deaden the imagination, but to feed and 
train it ; inasmuch as nature is symbolical of that wisdom 
whose only personal expression is the act of creation, of 
which imagination is the human form. 

The highest imagination is best trained, therefore, by the 
orderly study of nature, which objective work always in- 
volves, and which artistic work requires. That imagination 
disdains the fetters of experience, and has peculiar delight 
in impossible combinations, is a witness — if not a proof — 
that the human being partakes of that Ineffable Spirit who 
created nature. As the command in Genesis intimates, Man 
is to have dominion over everything that God has made — 
if we except his fellow man^ with whom he is to have 
fellowship rather — and be dominated only by God, who is the 
Love that " taketh captivity captive," and '' casting out fear," 
gives perfect freedom, with the power of " preferring one 
another in love." 



12 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 



LETTER FHOM MRS. EMMA WHIPPLE. 

My Dear Miss Pbabodt, — I have just been reading the 
September number of the KiNDERGARXEisr Messenger, 
with a renewed conviction of the need of such a magazine. 
People are getting more familiar with the name of Kinder- 
garten, but there is a great want of real understanding of 
the principles on which Froebel's system is founded. The 
article by Mrs. Ploedterll especially interested me, for it 
recalled one of Mrs. Kriege's lectures to her class, in 
which she described one of the methods by which Froebel's 
ideas were put into practice in some parts of Germany, 
and which I think might with great advantage to both 
mothers and children be introduced into our own country, 
especially in neighborhoods where families are too few 
in number to allow a teacher to be supported. If in such 
neighborhoods, or in cities or towns where a number of 
little children of an age too tender to be sent to any 
school, even a true Kindergarten, could be conveniently 
collected at the houses of each mother in turn^ each mother 
having previously been instructed by a trained teacher in the 
nursery art of Froebel, and the presentation and manipula- 
tion of some of the " occupations," there would be a real bene- 
fit to both the mothers and the children. In such a union of 
mothers each mother should prepare herself to instruct in 
her turn all the children of the neighborhood, thereby be- 
coming intimately acquainted with all the children, and in so 
doing she would be enabled to deal more wisely and justly 
with her own little ones. It is not uncommon to hear a 
mother excuse some fault or exalt some good trait in her own 
child, which a wider knowledge and careful study of children 
would teach her was not peculiar to her own child, but be- 
longing to childhood; showing that her child needed no 
special indulgence. Many traits, which become in after life 
disagreeable idiosyncrasies, would be effaced or counteracted 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 3 

by such social training from the earliest years ; and the 
healthful develoj)ment of the social nature would gently and 
gradually prepare the little ones, where true Kindergartens 
do not exist, for the primary schools. I am sure from my 
own knowledge and acquaintance with mothers, that a large 
proportion of them are deeply interested to know of any- 
thing which will help them to develop their children in the 
best way ; and if such unions of mothers in the country 
neighborhoods could be formed, as you suggested in your 
general letter, where they would meet to read and think 
about the articles contained in the Messbnger and Mrs. 
Kriege's " Child," at the same time calling to their aid when 
possible a trained kindergartner to illustrate the methods of 
procedure, there would grow up in various parts of our 
country an earnest call for true Kindergartens, which would 
compel school committees to look into the matter. It seems 
to me that a kindergartner heartily in earnest about this 
matter, could do great service to the mothers and children 
of neighborhoods where several young children are to be 
found, by holding herself in readiness to answer occasional 
calls for such advice and enlightenment of mothers, and giv- 
ing instiTiction in the use of some of the gifts. Sewing, 
weaving, drawing and some others are easily adapted to 
home use. If a comparison of the results of such efforts 
could be made at certain periods, how it would stimulate the 
mothers, and also the children, to invent new forms. I wish 
any word of mine could turn the scale in any young woman's 
mind, who is hesitating whether or not to go to one of the 
training schools that you mention as soon to be opened. 
To any young woman of means and leisure, such a training 
offers a mode of usefulness to any child or children who may 
at any period of her life come under her influence ; and how 
multiform are the occasions and circumstances of all wo- 
men's lives in which the happiness and training of children 
becomes the nearest duty. 



14 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

We are urged by a correspondent to print the whole 
translation of "Froebel's Mutter und Kose Lieder," together 
with the appendix, in which he gives hints for conversations 
in the nui'sery upon the pictures that accompany the songs. 
But it would take more than a year to print the appendix 
alone ; and we hope that by another year the book itself, 
with the plates, may be in the hands of the public. Mean- 
while we will begin to-day to give some extracts. 

The education of the mother was the first object with 
Froebel ; that is, he wished to raise the instinctive mother 
into the thoughtful mother. For it is the connection of in- 
stinct with thought (love with wisdom) that alone deserves 
the name of spirituality. He, therefore, both in the first 
songs and in the first addresses to the mother, in the appendix 
to the songs, calls upon her to observe her own emotions, 
and follow them out into their bearings and significance, in 
the faith that thus she shall seize the divine idea, so that she 
may act not as a mere creature of instinct, but as a spirit of 
reason. Nothing short of reason is worthy the name of 
inspiration, though this word is often profaned by making it 
synonymous with passionate impulse. The truth is that 
passionate impulse and sensuous impressions of nature are 
the two contrasts given in consciousness, which are to be 
connected by thought^ the act of reason. The very word 
ratio implies that there has been comparison. When we say 
Z think, we imply the act of reason connecting the absolute 
contrasts of nature and spirit, which connection moves to 
action. An action is correctly said to be inspired when it is 
the consequence of this connection having been made in the 
depths of consciousness; such action is causal or inventive, the 
connection being so intimate as to be a combination analo- 
gous to the chemical one resulting in a thirds which has 
powers not possessed by either of the elements, when left 
isolated. It is because only the thoughtful mother of scnsi- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 5 

bility can be properly called inspired, that Froebel would 
lead her to think. 



(Froebel's note on the Vignette of the " Mutter nnd Kose Lieder." p. 5.) 

"Absorbed in contemplation, and penetrated by the feeling 
that in the child sent to thee by the Father of all living, as 
a revelation of His own Being, has been confided to thee a 
being complete in itself, for thee to nurture and watch over — 
let thy glances, O happy mother, rest upon him as a great 
gift of God ! The hope that this being — in his manifold pow- 
ers, peculiarities, and individuality — will reflect thine own 
being, thrills through thy heart, and fills thee with joy, 

"In watching the many-sided development of the child's 
character, thou wilt see constantly arising therein endless 
varieties and contradictions ; let these, O mother, be a source 
of happiness to thee, since they are proofs of the rich life 
that is within him, and that will have vent. Thou mayest be 
sure that under thy loving and watchful eye they will one 
day sink into their legitimate places, and go to form a noble 
and harmonious whole. 

" Time and thy care, O mother, must reconcile these op- 
posing qualities of his soul. Thou seest how the vigor 
of his body, the mobility of his limbs, and the activity of 
his soul, all work together for the same end, namely, the 
foi-mation of an harmonious or many-sided existence, the 
realization of a distinct individuality, which communicates 
of itself to the world without, and receives impressions there- 
from in return, just as a healthy tree absorbs the different 
elements of earth, water, air, and light, perpetually renewing 
by their means its own inner life, and bringing forth branches, 
leaves, and fruit in return. 

" This consciousness of the harmony of the nature, this 
power of assimilating, as it were, the external life with the 
internal, the life of the body with the life of the soul, we call 
spirit. 



1 6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

" Feeling, perception, sensation, consciousness, being, life, 
soul, these many different, nay sometimes opposing elements, 
will at length, by a judicious care and treatment of thy 
child, be blended together in his spirit and will rejoice thee, 
O watchful mother, as being in some measure a reproduc- 
tion of thine own. So whilst thou art tending and nurturing 
thy child, and leading him step by step up the ladder of life, 
thou wilt become convinced, as he is, of the grand scheme of 
unity which governs, not only each human being, but also the 
whole system of nature ; and wilt recognize with a thrill of 
joy unspeakable, that thy darling's life is a spark of God's 
life, and recognize progressively in all things living, a revela- 
tion of the living God. 

" Therefore, in consideration of this close and intimate 
union between thy child and the great Father, thy highest 
eai'thly joy should be to train him up in the love and fear of 
God, his maker and the preserver of all things. 

"But how is this to be done? thou wilt ask. The answer, 
O mother, is written on thy heart, and speaks unconsciously 
in all thy simple motherly ways, ' How otherwise than by 
tending and watching over his character in its manifold de- 
velopments, the vigor of his mind and body, his individual 
life, and above all, his relations with thyself?' Thou art 
right, O watchful, thoughtful mother ! It is thy duty to ob- 
serve, not only the workings of his inner life, but the bearing 
of external events and circumstances upon that life. His 
body is closely allied with the dust of the ground ; his limbs 
are his means of communication with surrounding objects ; 
and his mind wanders not alone through the world of thought, 
— his growing individuality, his dawning consciousness, his 
awakening spii-it, binds him with all which has form, or re- 
veals itself as life ! Nay, the link has already been formed 
which unites him with heaven as well as earth. Let it be 
thy care, O mother, to strengthen and cement these bonds 
of union ! 

"But in what manner are revealed to thee, not only the 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER, 1/ 

varieties and contradictions of thy child's being, but also its 
unity? No otherwise than they are revealed in all life, 
whether of human beings, or of the animal and vegetable 
worlds. 

"As the seed-corn, so the egg; as the feeling, so the 
thought ; from the uncertain will one day be developed the 
certain ; and so, O mother, does the life of thy child at first 
appear a void to thee. But from this uncertain void will 
spring the certain fulness of life, as the green blade springs 
from the seed, or the bird from the fragile egg. If thou 
wishest to procure this fulness of life for thy child, cherish in 
him to the utmost extent, an interest in all that the life around 
him can receive or ofier ; just as young plants or animals 
are sensitive to the slightest changes in light or warmth, 
and to the lightest impressions from surrounding objects. 
All noble raptures and emotions are closely related to this 
sensitiveness, just as in nature, the tenderest plant and the 
youngest animal is irritated by the smallest change of cir- 
cumstances, or calmed by the softest touch. 

" Although this sensitiveness often brings with it pain and 
grief to himself, as well as to thee, yet let it not alarm thee 
for his future development, for that will not be impeded any 
more than the growth of the young plant or animal is im- 
peded by the timid shrinking of its first tender leaves. 

"But that which will cause him the greatest pain and sor- 
row throughout life is the incessant craving after the free 
legitimate development of his being, which manifests itself 
on all occasions, whether in his general activity, or in the 
special activity of his mind or limbs, and which will give rise 
to trouble and misunderstanding, however pure may be its 
cause. 

"Thus, step by step, he will proceed, from the strengthening 
of mind and body to their proper use ; frorii the perception 
of objects to the understanding of them ; from idle gazing 
to resolute contemplation; from the forming of isolated 



1 8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

thoughts to the binding of them together into a great and 
useful whole. 

" Therefore must thou lead thy child from the object to its 
representation; from the representation to its ideal. Thus 
the imagination is to be developed ; and later thy child, 
ripened by culture and education, will look back upon this 
portion of his life as only part of one great whole; as a 
small fraction of his family, of his country, of humanity, and 
the vast work of God in all and through all. Life will be 
to him a condition of union with nature, mankind, and God; 
of deepest peace and joy. Then thy desires, loving mother, 
for the child whom thou didst cherish and nurture from the 
hour of his birth, will be fulfilled." 



(Proebel's note on the Vignette of p. 7.) 

" What is it, O tender mother, that warms and cheers thee, 
that floods thy whole being with a radiant glow, at the sight 
of thy beloved child reposing on thy breast ? What is it 
that lends to thy smallest services rendered to him, such 
meaning and importance ; what teaches thee to fulfil with 
such affectionate care the most common and uninteresting 
duties ; what gives thee tranquillity, thoughtfulness, endur- 
ance, good temper, devotion, even during the passages in thy 
child's life which cause thee most sorrow and uneasiness? 

" It is that thou regardest the most trivial things, order, 
food, cleanliness, or whatever it may be, not as isolated 
cases, but in connection with the great harmony of existence; 
it is that, while watching over each little incident of his life, 
thou also lookest beyond to the gradual development of his 
character ; it is that, in the present, thou canst behold the 
future. 

" This looking forward it is which gives to thy life and work 
all the above-named rich gifts and lofty qualities. From the 
experience of thy own life and progress thou mayest learn 
that, if thou wouldst aid thy beloved child to come to a de- 
cision respecting his future life and occupations, and worthily 



KINDERG/iRTEN MESSENGER. 1 9 

to perform the part that he is called upon to play, just as 
thou thyself fulfilled with dignity thy wifely and motherly 
duties, thou must teach him early to regard his life as a 
whole, wherein the smallest incident has its meaning and its 
importance in developing his character, and determining the 
course of his future existence. Then will his being, at each 
step of its progress, offer to the view, though in a lesser de- 
gree, the same high qualities which should adorn thee in 
thine own state of life. For what a want do we, O mother, 
too often feel in later life, because we, as children, have cast 
aside this contemplation of small incidents in their bearing 
on our lives, or have acquired the habit too late, at least, 
when the fairest and brightest portion of our existence on 
earth has passed away forever. 

"The union and sympathy between mother and child should 
be the sweetest recollection of our lives ; but where are the 
infinite variety of signs and tokens by which maternal love 
used to tend and nurture us? Alas! they are sunk in the 
sea of oblivion, and yet they are the waves which once were 
to float our frail bark in safety down the stream of life to the 
quiet haven — nay, they would have done so, had we but 
recognized or held them fast. 

" To lend a helping hand in this holding fast of the first life 
of childhood in the earliest period of his being, not only as 
the first period of development for his whole future life, but 
for the recognition, full and complete, of the aims and the 
spirit with which thou, O mother, didst watch over and 
superintend this development, — have these ' Children's 
Songs ' been written ; receive them, ye mothers, kindly and 
indulgently; criticise not too minutely the art of the repre- 
sentations ; they are the first attempts with such an aim, and 
in such a spirit; they must necessarily be imperfect, but 
they may help to make clear to you what your loving hearts 
have already shown you, though dimly and indistinctly. If 
you are conscious of this, you will quickly learn to overlook 



20 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

their imperfections ; and certainly your children, for whom 
they were written, will do so. 

"And if these rhymes and pictures make you more heedful 
of the present and more hopeful for the future, let them be 
also to your children, in later years, like a magic mirror, in 
which they may see all their childish thoughts and associa- 
tions, and regard them, not as so much infantine folly, but as 
the seed from which their future life was to spring. 

" A mother's nurture and caressing, 

Her earliest game, lier simplest rhyme, 
Shall be to them a life- long blessing, 
Undimmed by years of fleeting time. 

" Is not this, dear mother, the case with the feeling which 
thy first-born and every succeeding infant awakened within 
thee, whilst contemplating the first tender stirrings of life 
in him, as he lay on thy lap or in thy arms ? Are not these 
feelings, which lead thee gently and yet urgently to cai-e for 
and watch over thy child, worthy of thine attention ; not 
only for the welfare of thy child, but also for thine own 
happiness and peace of mind ? Do they not require such 
attention ? Should these feelings be only passing ? Were 
they not feelings of unspeakable happiness, nay, even of 
blessedness, which thrilled through thee, and exalted thee to 
a more lofty existence, of which even thine outward appear- 
ance bore the impress ? Who that saw thee could mistake 
it? 

" But how could this consciousness of having given life and 
being to a little child, how could thy contemplation of that 
child, work such wonders ? How, but because thou sawest 
in him something beyond the ordinary life of the body, 
something that spoke of the existence of a human soul. 

" But, mother, is it not also true, that soon the cares for the 
bodily welfare of this gift of God cause these feelings even 
more and more to shrink into the background, to grow cold, 
nay, too often to die out altogether ? Should this be so ? Are 
those sensations only the sweet and pure recompense for 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 21 

the anguish which gave an earthly existence to this gift of 
heaven ; or should they not rather accompany thy child 
throughout his whole life, or at least that portion of it when, 
not yet capable of acting for himself, he is still dependent 
on thy fostering care? I think they should, and I will 
show thee what I mean by drawing for thee a true and faith- 
ful picture from real life. 

'' When I was a boy, with a continually increasing love of 
nature, I discovered under a white-rose hedge in my father's 
garden a small, almost imperceptible, five-petalled red flower 
with five golden dots in the middle. It was a simple child 
of nature, and a hundred more beautiful flowers bloomed 
in the garden all around, tended by my father's careful 
hand, while it fell to the lot of this one to blossom unheeded 
in this sheltered spot. Yet it was this little flower which 
attracted my attention more than all the rest, for when I 
looked into its cup and between its golden stars, I imagined 
myself to be gazing into an unfathomable depth ; long, long 
did I, through months and years, whenever the flower was 
in blossom, thus gaze into the cup ; it seemed always to 
wish to say something to me, but I could never understand 
it ; still I was never tired of looking into the flower, for I 
thought, ' Some day I shall surely understand what it means 
to say to me.' 

" See now, dear mother, with such love, such longing, such 
yearning, dost thou gaze upon the intelligent countenance, 
into the deep clear eyes of thy child, who blooms as a flower 
under thy care; thou also desirest to see something — yea, 
heaven itself — in that face. 

" My gazing into the flower is like thy gazing upon thy child, 
and so I think that I understand thee, and thou me. But 
the truest affection of our hearts is the only bond of union 
between us. 

" By and by the boy wandered from his father's house, left 
the pleasant garden, and the flower was forgotten. But 
think what joy was his when, as a youth more conversant 



22 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

with nature's ways, he found it again ; he found it in com- 
pany with the hazel-bush, also associated with all his earliest 
recollections, and gazed upon it again with the same love as 
before, with the same yearning ; but it now spoke to him of 
the mystery of Being; and the secret law of development 
was made clear to him — yet, alas! once more it sank and 
disappeared in the all-engulfing stream of life. 

"At last, when I became a man, working at the business of 
my calling, I met with the flower again. What that tiny 
blossom had dimly foreshadowed to me, I had now discovered 
in trees, ten, a hundred, or a thousand years old ; — an 
emblem of the separation between good and evil, right and 
wrong, false and true. Now I know, after the lapse of fifty 
years, why, as a dreamy boy, I gazed into the depths of the 
flower, and that the genius of my life allowed me to see in 
it the depth, the laws, the signification of life. Behold, 
mother, what I thus dreaming saw, thou mayest see in reality 
in thy beloved child. Wilt thou also let more than fifty 
years slip away before thou understandest clearly what this 
being has to tell thee of itself, or of life in general ? For 
when life has almost passed away, what can it profit thee 
and him to know at last the truth ? What is the lesson of 
the longing gaze into the flowei-'s cup and the child's clear 
eyes? 'The unfolding of blossoms of tree, of human-being, 
is only the first condition of being; and the power of devel- 
oping into perfect manhood lies as distinctly marked out in 
the form and linaments of the infant, as may be traced in 
the first shooting of the flower, of the tree, — the power of 
developing into a full grown flower and a perfect tree.' It is 
consciousness, O mother, of the perfectability of this thy 
child, which thrills thy heart with rapturous emotion. But 
what is this free and unrepressed human existence of which 
thou already seest the promise in him ? See, mother, thy 
child, being a child of man, is destined to live in the past 
and the future, as well as in the present ; for a heaven of the 
past he brings with hira at the dawn of his being ; a heaven 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 2^ 

of the present he secures to thee by his existence ; and a 
heaven of the future he contains within himself. Behold, 
then, mother, this threefold heaven which thou bearest within 
thyself, thy child presents still more clearly to thee. 

" The beast lives only in the present ; he knows neither past 
nor future in their full extent. The glance into the future, 
the heaven of the future, is hope ; the heaven of the present, 
the consciousness of the inward harmony of all life, pain as 
well as joy, opens love to our vision, and faith gladdens our 
gaze back on the past. For, O mother ! mother ! what soul 
would not be filled with the most unmovable faith, with a 
faith firm as heaven itself in all that is good, true, holy, hu- 
man, and divine, in looking back with unclosed vision up 
the long vista of the past ? And where is the man in whose 
spirit such a glance into the events of the past is not a 
glance of faith and of truth ? And is it not the spirit of truth 
which leads to a pure and real life ? See then, mother, these 
centres of our highest and holiest existence, the present, the 
past, and the future ; these three genii of human life, faith, 
love, and hope, how brightly they greet thee in the counten- 
ance of thy child. The consciousness that in thy child lie 
already concealed the germs of these fairest flowers of 
humanity, fills thy heart with rapture, O mother, at the sight 
of thy first-born, and of every succeeding infant. 

" Cherish this consciousness, mother; for thou knowest that 
through it thou dost unite thy child's threefold existence 
with the source of all-light, all-love, and all-life, God ! 

" Truth, life, and light, 
Chase the shadows of night ; 
Faith, hope, and love 
Open the heavens above." 



N.B. — Answer to Mrs. Whipple's letter has been unayoidably crowded out of this 
aumber, but will appear in the December number, together with a notice of W. 
Hailman's "Kindergarten Culture." 



AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS 

ON THE 

IINDERGARTEN SYSTEM, 

FOR SALE BY 

Es. steb3:c:^:e3I=?., 

JV^os. 22 and 24 Frankfort Street, Wew York, 



A. Doviai. The Kindergarten. A Manual for the introduction of Proebel's 
System of Primary Education into Public Schools, and for the use of 
Mothers and Private Teachers. With 16 plates. Second edition. Cloth $1.00 
(The text of most of the songs and poetry is in both English and German.) 

W. N. ECailman. Kindergarten Culture in the Family and Kindergarten. 
A complete Sketch of Froebel's System of Early Education, adapted to 
American Institutions. For the use of Mothers and Teachers. Illus- 
trated. Cloth $0.75 

Mrs. Matilda H. Krlege. The Child; its Nature and Relations. An 
elucidation of Froebers Principles of Education. A free rendering of 
the German of the Baroness Marenholtz-Biilow. Second edition, printed 
on heavy tinted paper, tastefully bound in bevelled cloth, gilt top, . . . $1.00 

Mrs. H. Mann and Elizabetli P. Peabody. Moral Culture of Infancy, 

and Kindergarten Guide. With Music for the Plays. Cloth .... $1.25 

Miss Henrietta Noa. Plays for the Kindergarten. Music by Ch. J. 

Richter $0.30 

(The text of the 19 plays is in both English and German.) 

Edw. "Wiebe. The Paradise of Chi'dhood. A Manual for instruction in 
Friedrich Froebel's Educational Principles, and a Practical Guide to 
Kindergartners. With 74 Plates. 4to $3.00 



A. DOUAI'S SEEIES OF EATIOML EEADEES, 

combining the Principles of Pestalozzi's and Froebel's Systems of Education. 
With a systematic classification of English words, by which their Pronunciation, 
Orthography, and Etymology may be taught readily without the use of any new 
signs. By Dr. A. Doual. 

I. Introductory. The Rational Phonetic Primer. Boards $0.20 

II. The Rational First Reader. Boards 30 

III. The Rational Second Reader. Boards " 50 

IV. The Rational Third Reader. Boards 80 

V. A Rqform of the Common English Branches of Instruction. Manual 

for Teachers : an Introduction to the Series of Rational Readers, 
Contaming useful hints about the Teaching of Grammar, Elocu- 
tion, and Object Lessons, etc. Boards 30 



A very complete stock of imported Kindergarten Liiterature (in German, 
French, and English). 

Kindergarten Gifts, and Occupation Material on hand. Catalogues 
on application. 

E. STEIGEE, 22 and 24 Prankfort Street, Ifew York. 



A Monthly of 24 pages. 
EDITED BY ELIZABETH P. PEABODT. 



No. 8. — DECEMBER, 1873. 



Payments of $1.00 to be made to E. P. Peabody, 19 FoUen Street, Cambridge. 
Specimen numbers and subscription paper to be seen at N. C. Peabodt's 
Homoeopathic Pharmacy, 56 Beach Street, Boston; at E. Steiger's Publishing 
House, 22 and 24 Frankfort Street, New York; and at Pqtnam & Sons' Book 
Store, corner 23rd Street and 4th Avenue, New York. 



IMPORTANT NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. 

The hope I exjDressed in my May and June numbers has 
not been disappointed, and the number of my subscribers, 
growing every week, has enabled me to complete the pro- 
posed experiment with this number, paying all expenses for 
the year 1873. but with no surplus. Yet, although another 
year, in which I shall print twelve numbers, will cost a third 
more, I conclude to go on still, in faith of success. For new 
subscribers come every day, and nearly every subscriber 
becomes a self-constituted agent to send me other subscribers. 
I am encouraged by the fact that my paper has grown thus 
far by its own agency, for there has been no canvassing. It 
is true that seven persons, most of them previously strangers 
to me, have paid for ninety-two sets of Messengers to be 
sent to friends by way of advertisement, in the hope that 
the subscriptions would be renewed another year. On this 
account, therefore, I take the liberty to beg that all who do 
mean to subscribe in January, will immediately let me know, 
sending the advanced pay of one dollar, with the postage — 
twelve cents for American subscribers, twenty-four cents for 
English subscribers. (For a club of English friends of the 
cause have subscribed, and sent me their names and a five 
pound note, to pay for their first year. I will, howevei-, in the 
January number, if not in this, designate some person in 
England, to whom payments may be made- and money sent 



2 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

hereafter, as it is so difficult to transmit sums less than five 
pounds across the ocean. The charge to English subscribers 
will be five shillings, including postage.) I send bills with this 
number to some American subscribers who have not paid for 
the past yeai', and it may be that in some instances those who 
did not wish to subscribe will receive them — for there have 
been some few Mbssengeks sent back, but with no post-mai'k 
or other indication by which the persons who retui-ned them 
could be known to me — they will, therefore, pardon the 
seeming intrusion of the bill. 

The matter, during the succeeding year, will include fewer 
general statements, and less defence of the method. My 
purpose in giving the papers read by the young ladies at 
their graduation, is to show the public that trained kinder- 
gartners have definite ideas and well considered methods; 
and to enable parents, in the first place, to discriminate them 
from the many keepers of infant schools who have assumed 
the name of Kindergarten for their own pecuniary advan- 
tage, which they are the more apt to do the less they 
know of the principles of Froebel ; and, in the second place, 
to give them confidence in the real kindergartner, and not 
oblige her to force the children to manifestations undesirable, 
because premature. True culture is a growth for a time out 
of sight, striking root. Sometimes immediate effects are 
seen; sometimes they appear slowly. Little children will 
often, at first, do nothing but look on. If they do look on 
with interest, the kindergartner is justified, and will find 
by and by that there will be a sudden outburst of ex- 
pression and work. I was much in a Kindergarten last 
spring, when a bright little boy of four came, very wilful, 
and determined not to do anything. He laid down on a 
bench and gazed on the children at their work and play 
every day for a fortnight, more and more attentive ; at the 
end of that time he manifested desire to join the others at 
their work and play, and entered into everything intelligently. 
In the public Kindergarten of Boston, a child of three looked 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 3 

on all the last season, and the judicious teacher allowed it, 
as the child did nothing wrong, and was evidently interested. 
She was satisfied because he was so attentive, and spoke at 
home of what was done. This year he began intelligently 
and industriously doing everything with the others. The 
diffei'ent classes of children — the predominately perceptive 
and the predominately reflective — will manifest themselves 
differently. The kindergartner must treat each child accord- 
ing to the law of its kind. It is sometimes important not to 
interrupt their inward processes. A kindergartner is not fit 
for her business who does not understand how to discrimin- 
ate the repose of attention and reflection from the passivity 
of indolence and stupidity. In an adequate training school 
the teacher will lead her pupils to read these living pages of 
the book of nature. Training does not consist merely or 
chiefly in learning the processes of art, or the qualities 
of things to be taught ; but in analyzing mental processes 
and appreciating mental, moral, and aesthetic facts of the 
child's consciousness. 

Thus, it is a peculiar gift and art to train teachers. Not 
every good practical kindergartner can do it. And, vice versa, 
the Baroness Marenholtz, who is unrivalled in her power of 
training kindergartners, says she could not keep a Kinder- 
garten herself She knows how childhood should be ad- 
dressed, but in her own case can more readily address the 
adult mind, which demands another kind of illustration. 

Mrs. Kriege gave to but one of all the pupils she has 
taught in this country, a certificate to teach teachers, and that 
was to Miss Garland, who was already matured and cultivated 
in the science of education, and had had long practice in 
teaching young ladies. 

Mrs. Kraus Boelte, who gave to Miss Blow a full certificate 
as kindergartner, after she had studied in her Kindergarten 
a year, receiving all the time private lessons in the theory, 
did not give her, nor did Miss Blow ask a certificate for 
training teachers. Yet Misa Blow was rarely gifted and 



4 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

cultivated. But both felt that study of the living page of 
childhood, in the experience of teaching Kindergarten, was 
a necessary preliminary of the power to communicate the 
science and art to another. 

It may be well for me to add in this place that Mrs. Kriege 
thinks I gave the false impression, in one of my earlier 
Messengers, of her idea with respect to the training for 
keeping Kindergartens, merely by saying that her training 
term was only five months. She says it was always six 
months ; and I can testify that she always declared it was too 
short a time, especially for such pupils as she generally had, 
who were not sufficiently matured and cultivated, nor 
experienced in mental and moral analyses, to begin. But 
the six months was a concession to American impatience at a 
moment when it was necessary to make a beginning. Yet 
it may be long enough for such pupils as are well cultivated 
when they enter, and Mrs. Kriege enjoined on Miss Garland 
not to receive into her class any except those who could bear 
examination, and these only on probation for a month. 

It is better for the reform to begin thoroughly, even if the 
Kindergartens are kept back a decade. Indeed, it cannot 
begin otherwise. It will not do for these young prophets to 
run before they are sent, that is, before they are qualified. 
In fact, it is but a delusion and a snare, and forecloses 
opportunity for the true thing. Mrs. Kriege's rigidity of 
principle on this point sometimes exposed her to the charge 
of being ungenial. 

But I am wandering, perhaps, from the purely business 
character of this notice. I will only add that, henceforth, 
taking for granted that my readers accept Froebel's art and 
science as the true method of culture, I hope to fill up my pages 
by articles from my own and other abler pens, that shall be 
instructive upon special points to both parents and kinder- 
gartners. Mrs. Kraus Boelte has promised me a history of 
her fifteen years' experience. I hope also that our own less 
experienced but equally ardent kindergartners will give me 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 5 

their observations, experiments, successes, and failures. For 
much is to be learned from failure as well as success. I trust, 
too, that I shall have communications from mothers' unions, 
and that many may be formed, even where at present it may 
be impossible to have Kindergartens, for lack of kindergart- 
ners and from other circumstances. In the present number I 
shall give the largest place to Kindergarten Intelligence, 
which has necessarily been meagre in the preceding numbers. 
Finally, to new subscribers in January, I will send, at the 
reduced price of fifty cents, the eight numbers printed in 
1873 ; which contain some important papers needful for the 
understanding of what comes after them ; and because it is 
satisfactory to have a work from the beginning. 



COMBINED NURSERIES.* 

In reply to Mrs. Whipple's letter, I will remark that al- 
ready I have expressed the idea that I am more and rnore 
convinced that the Kindergarten, to be truly in Froebel's 
spirit and method, must grow out of the thoughtful mother's 
nursery, rather than out of the school committee rooms, 
where men often foi-get they are fathers in their ambition for 
municipal office. Such a union as Mrs. WhijDple suggests, 
would do much to bring out into conscious action what is 
truly divine in the mother's instinct, because in such com- 
munication all that is best comes out, and all that is frivolous 
and peculiar is seen to be not the truth. In every neighbor- 
hood there are some mothers especially gifted ; and I would 
have sisters as well as mothers come to the meeting and take 
part in these "Combined Nurseries," for they had better 
be so called to distinguish them from Kindergartens, which 
there is reason to believe would be formed afterwards, where 
the series of blocks, the planes, squares, and triangles, the 

* This article was crowded out of the last number. 



6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

stick laying, and the Froebel drawing, could be systemati- 
cally attended to by a teacher who is thoroughly instructed 
in the generation of forms, which organizes the understand- 
ing accurately, as well as pleases the fancy. Of all the 
employments for the nursery schools, the sewing and weav- 
ing seem to be most suitable, but even these it is desir- 
able should be done in series. The interlacing of sticks is 
also a very nice employment for little boys. Among the 
Kindergarten materials are slats — but there are little bun- 
ches of thin sticks a quarter of an inch broad, sold for cigar 
lighters, that can be used on the same principle. The ball 
plays, too, are especially good for these " Combined Nurseries," 
where physical exercise is made more gentle and healthful by 
a plan. The j)residing principle of these nurseries must be to 
make one another happy, and this will ensure sweet little 
courtesies, and check selfishness. Great use might be made 
in these nursery schools of the plays for the Kindergarten, 
by Miss Henrietta Noa, of St. Louis, which may be had of 
N. C. Peabody, 56 Beach Street, Boston. For movement 
play must predominate in these schools, and W. Hailman's 
" Kindergarten Culture," just published, and sold by Steiger, 
for seventy-five cents, would be an excellent manual for the 
mothers who superintend these combined nurseries. This 
work is a valuable addition to Kindergarten literatm-e, but I 
somewhat demur to using the series of six gifts (except the 
first) in homes, because it is very difficult for a mother, with 
all her other cares, to superintend their use with sufficient 
regularity. In these combined nurseries it would be more 
feasible. But I do not decide the question. 



THE KINDERGARTEN: WHAT IS IT? 

A paper read by Miss C. E. Dewing, on occasion of her graduating from Misa 
Garland's class, May, 1873. 

It is not a garden of flowers, in which children spend their 
entire time, although, if possible, there should be one con- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 7 

nected with it. It is a garden of children, who are treated 
as plants by the kindergartner (child-gardener). 

A professional gardener knows it is necessary to his success 
in perfecting his plants, that he should understand their 
natures, possibilities for beauty and use, and the circum- 
stances of soil and climate necessaxy or injurious to their full 
and complete growth. In a similar manner, the child- 
gardener must understand the nature of the child, its original 
endowments and capacities, and seek by natural means and 
proper conditions, according to natural law, its perfect 
development. 

Froebel made the needs of children a study, and discovered 
the means for satisfying them. He learned what those needs 
were through the free manifestations of the natural tenden- 
cies of the child, which are shown in its plays. 

Since development^ which is the unconscious aim of this 
spontaneous activity, is the end to be sought in true educa- 
tion, Froebel made/ree self-activity the fundamental principle 
in his method. 

If the harmonious development of the child's threefold 
nature — physical, mental, and spiritual — is to be attained, 
this activity must be guided and regulated by the use of 
natural means, which are provided in the occupations and 
plays of the Kindergarten. 

The natural, universal " law of contrasts and their con- 
nections" underlies the whole of the Kindergarten system, 
and is applied in her method by the kindergartner, who also 
leads the child to apply it in all his activity, of whatever kind. 

Nature prompts the child to use its hands constantly, in 
order that they may be prepared for work. Instead of 
requiring it to fold its hands, Froebel has followed nature's 
suggestion, and associated all instruction with the use of the 
hands, thereby developing their skill, and. securing the child's 
attention. 

Instruction in the Kindergarten begins with the concrete, 
the object which the child can comprehend, and proceeds 



8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

gradually to the verge of the abstract, thus preparing the 
way for true perceptions ; for " there is nothing in the mind 
which has not passed through the senses." 

After the ball plays, common to the Nursery and Kinder- 
garten, the occupations pass in regular sequence from the 
undivided to the divided solids of the third, fourth, fifth, and 
sixth gifts, and thence, naturally, to the embodied surface of 
solids in a series oi planes, presenting five forms, — the whole 
square, divided square, which gives two right angled tri- 
angles, the equilateral, isosceles, and scalene tiiangles. 

In the " folding leaf" and " weaving mat " we find surfaces 
again embodied in different material. 

After the planes come the embodied edges of the cube, or 
straight lines in the wooden staffs; and the wire rings 
embody the circular edge of a section of a sphere and face 
of the cylinder. 

Taking another step toward the abstract, we have the 
pictured line in "drawing." In "sewing" colored worsteds 
into perforated cards, many of the drawing patterns may be 
repeated. 

In the "peas-work" the little staffs, which represent the 
lines, ai'e connected by means of peas — material points. 
Thus the child is enabled to make the entire contour of an 
object — to see the within and without of it. 

In " pricking " we observe again the law of progress. Here 
we have the indication of the point which was embodied in 
the ends of a staff and in the peas. 

The impulse toward plastic forming is completely gratified 
in the "modelling with clay." 

In these practical occupations mathematics have a promi- 
nent place; but the subject is always presented in the 
concrete. 

The child's natural instincts for forming, building, model- 
ling, and drawing are satisfied, and activity is guided to some 
purpose. An aptitude and love for work are acquired ; and 
a knowledge of the elements of art, science, and industry is 
gained. 



KINDER G/iR TEN MESSENGER. 9 

Froebel awakens the inventive faculties of the child by 
giving him this properly prepared material, with which, after 
receiving clear impressions of foi'm, size, color, number, and 
sound, he imitates external objects. The impressions made 
by these objects lead to perceptions of their similarities and 
differences, whence arise conceptions of new forms, which he 
seeks to embody by the "law of opj)osites." He is thus 
enabled to express what is in his mind, to combine thinking 
and doing. 

" Singing and movement plays " alternate with the occu- 
pations. The poetical instinct is satisfied by means of little 
songs, which are learned by heart, and the meaning of the 
words understood before they are sung ; also, by means of 
stories, which may contain much instruction. 

The " plays " are accompanied by songs, whose meaning is 
suited to the comprehension of the child, and is illustrated 
in the exercises. 

A part of the time is spent in the "care of plants," 
which the children learn to love. Thus they are brought in 
close contact with nature — God's interpreter. Before the 
child can comprehend God who is unseen, he can learn of 
Him through His works in nature, and be led, through love 
of nature and friends, to the God of nature and the Giver 
of these friends. 

The faith faculty of the little one must be recognized and 
fostered by the kindergartner, who should herself possess 
childlike faith and trust. The daily prayer, the religious 
songs, and Bible stories should teach of Jesus as the perfect 
child^ whose obedience and loveliness the children are to 
make their pattern. 

It is only when a child is associated with others of his own 
age that he truly acts and comes to a knowledge of himself. 

In the Kindergarten, children learn to respect the rights 
of others, and become generous, frank, courteous, orderly, 
and self-forgetful. Virtue and morality are thus learned by 
practice. 



lO KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 



EXTRACT or A LETTER PROM MRS. KRIEQE. 

Dated Cassel, October 18th. 

"The second annual convention of the General Educa- 
tional Union (Allgemeine Erziehungs-Verein), met on the 
30th of September, 1873, at Cassel. On the previous even- 
ing we had an informal society meeting of delegates, and on 
the 30th, at ten o'clock, a.m., the meeting was opened by the 
address of the Burgomaster of Cassel, who welcomed the 
assembly. « * * * 

"Then our president. Director Schroeder, gave a short 
explanation of the history and aims of the Union, which 
grew out of the meeting of the Philosophers' Congress, at 
Frankfort-on-the-Main, in 1869. He said the war prevented 
the meeting in 1870. In 1871 a constitution was made at 
the meeting in Munich; and in 1872 the first regular con- 
vention took place at Dresden, in the fall; and now this 
second one at Cassel. The aims of the Union comprised 
not only the education to be received in schools, but all 
human education, in family, in school, in professional and 
practical life, from earliest infancy up to full maturity; to 
the whole course of which Froebel's ideas and principles 
were applicable. The convention was not merely for peda- 
gogues and teachers, and nothing was excluded from dis- 
cussion that bore on human education, considered in the widest 
sense; but all who took a lively interest in this question 
were welcome, especially fathers and mothers. He said this 
association had been accused of not being national. He 
answered that it was not anti-national, but international, 
extending its hand abroad for co-operation, to all nations. 

" This speech was followed by the reading of the reports 
of the bi'anch associations. That of Dresden told us that 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. II 

they had created a people's Kindergarten, a normal school for 
training Kindergarten teachers, and a class for the general 
higher education of girls after they have left school. The 
branch association of Cassel reported two hundred members, 
and told us they had opened a people's Kindergarten, which 
is attended by fifty-two children, who stay all day, getting a 
noon and an afternoon meal. Their parents, who go out to 
work, pay a small sum weekly, and take the children home in 
the evening. There are, besides this, two private Kinder- 
gartens in Cassel, the attendance on which has so increased in 
the last two years, that the opening of a third one is contem- 
plated. Cassel also has a training school for kindergartners. 
The Baroness Marenholtz, in commenting on this report, said 
she hoped that by and by the branch associations would all 
unite to found an institution for the thorough education of 
teachers from all nations to the point of ability to conduct 
normal schools in their own countries, in order that in time 
there might be a sufficient number of able kindergartners to 
make Kindergarten recognized as the indispensable first step 
of the public education in all countries. 

"After the reports were read, Dr. Hohlfeld of Dresden, 
made an address on 'the importance of Froebel for the 
present time.' 

" He first drew a picture of all that was unsound in the 
present state of society, in the family, in the community, in 
church and state ; and dwelt on the necessity of an harmoni- 
ous education of all individuals ; and condemned the idea 
and practice of considering the education of women of less 
importance than that of men. He then depicted Froebel's 
ideas, and what would be the gracious result for society if 
they were carried out fully. He dwelt earnestly on the 
artistic side of the Froebel education, and its bearing on work, 
and on the practical, as well as on the moral and religious 
life. This address will be printed, as it was the unanimous 
wish of all who listened to it ; and I may then be able to 
give you a complete idea of it. 



12 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

"Madame Johanna Goldsclimidt, of Hamburg, spoke of 
the necessity of training young girls to go into families as 
handmaidens to mothers, and specified the difierence of this 
training from that for training kindergartners, but said all 
must be on Froebel's principles, which were identical for 
nurseries and Kindergartens, with difierence of application 
in each. 

" An address on the ' Orchestra of the ancient Greeks, and 
the movement plays of Froebel' was expected from Mr. 
Poesche of Berlin, but sickness prevented him from appearing. 

" In the afternoon there was a discussion upon Dr. Hohlfeld's 
lecture, in which Pastor Steinacher, Baroness Marenholtz, 
Madame Goldschmidt, and Dr. Hohlfeld took part; and 
Pastor Baehring, a pupil of Froebel's at Keilhau, gave an 
interesting account of the life there, and of Froebel's first 
educational attempts. Some remarks of our president, 
Schroeder, on the efiects of Froebel's system on idiotic child- 
ren, were cut short by want of time. 

"The evening was given up to social intercourse and 
informal conversation. 

" The session of October 1st, was occuj)ied by reports of 
associations in sympathy with but not formally united with 
our Union. 

" Mr. Frisclie gave a report from the association at Bruns- 
wick, which is about to join with us; and Madame de Oppel, 
formerly Miss Jurisch, gave a very interesting account of the 
state of things in Manchester, England, and the opening of 
a people's Kindergarten there. She described, graphically, 
the change wrought in the children, when the infant school, 
that had existed for a long time, was changed into a Kinder- 
garten according to Froebel's ideas ; and spoke of a gentle- 
man of high standing, who was moved to tears by seeing 
those very children, who formerly were like a herd of savages, 
so happy in their orderly good behavior. 

"Madame de Oppel spoke of the pernicious efiects of the 
English custom of oflering rewards to children for attending 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER, 1 3 

school. She said these rewards were easily earned, as each half 
day was counted a day's attendance, and she had known cases 
where children had attended four schools at once in order to 
gain these prizes, and go to the tea parties, which also were 
given as one reward, where the children were stuffed to 
repletion ; and where they learned nothing, as only the bright- 
est ones got attention from the teachers, who were more 
intent on their own reputation than on the good of their 
pupils. She said there was good hope that in Manchester, 
where a great many persons of influence — among them some 
members of parliament — are interested in this cause, the 
Kindergarten and normal school in which she teaches will 
be liberally patronized, and do a great deal of good. 

"I made a few remarks on the state of things in Boston 
and New York, but no formal report, as I had done last year 
at Dresden. 

" The Countess Hussenstein, a Hungarian lady, and presi- 
dent of the association at Cassel, gave an account of the 
great interest awakened in Hungary, where ladies of the 
highest rank and character take the lead. 

"Mrs. Goldschmidt, of Hamburg, spoke of the training 
school for family teachers in Hamburg, which is in a flourishing 
condition, now superintended by Professor Wiebe ; and of 
the fact that Froebel and Diesterweg had opened the first 
Kindergartens there. 

" Then Director Marquardt, who is secretary of our Union, 
read many letters, among which was one from northern Italy, 
showing that the cause is making progress there. 

" The Baroness Marenholtz then spoke of her sojourn in 
Italy, and what was done at Florence, Rome, and Naples ; 
and the Marchesa Guerieri added further particulars. 

" After the reports were disposed of. Pastor Boehring made 
an address on Religious Education. This. highly interesting 
topic had been cautiously approached, for fear that difference 
of views might lead to disharmonies ; but the broad catholic 
spirit in which it was treated gave offence to no one. He 



14 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

said that with a religion which taught that ' God is love ' it 
was out of place to teach young children denominational 
differences ; and that this was not the mode in the primitive 
church. The Baroness Marenholtz followed him, and said 
the child should first learn of his Creator and Heavenly 
Father through His works ; and, at a later stage, through the 
Word of Revelation. But in so limited a space I cannot do 
justice to what was said on this vital topic. 

" On the morning of October 2d, there was read a paper 
on drawing, according to Froebel's method ; and then Miss 
Vorhauer, from Brunswick, spoke of Mrs. Wiseneder's method 
of teaching music, where theory and practice go hand-in- 
hand, and by means of various instruments and movable 
notes even young children can get clear, conceptions of 
notation, and learn I'hythm and harmonies. Without the 
apparatus I could not make this understood. A committee 
was appointed to examine this method, and devise means, if 
it should be approved, of introducing it into Kindergartens. 

" The finance committee then reported ; and, immediately 
after accepting the report, the convention adjourned to meet 
at Brunswick next June. 

"It was as high toned and intellectual an assembly as I 
ever saw. Madame Froebel (Froebel's widow) was amongst 
us, and received much tender homage, due to the memory of 
her husband. It must have gladdened her heart to see him, 
who in his life-time was so little known and understood, 
appreciated at last. 

"The respect of equality with which the ladies were 
treated, a rare thing in Germany as yet, augurs well for the 
future. 

" The people in Cassel were very hospitable, and attended 
the meetings in great numbers. A large, beautiful hall and 
adjoining rooms had been given for the meetings gratuitously, 
by a reading club. But I will not add to this long report. 

Matilda H. Kkiege." 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 5 

The American Kindergarten Intelligence begins to be 
encouraging. Mrs. Kraus Boelte, in New York, has removed 
her Kindergarten into a beautiful suite of rooms, at No. 7 
Gramercy Park, and set off some of the older members of 
her Kindergarten of last year, as an advanced class, to learn 
to read and write under the teaching of her husband, a 
graduate of the school of Diesterweg, and an adept in its 
object teaching, which is common to Froebel and Pestalozzi 
(being somewhat modified by Froebel, who chooses for 
analysis, objects in relation to each other and to the children). 

The advanced class is taught in a separate room ; but both 
classes mingle under Mrs. Kraus in many occupations, and 
all play and sing together. 

Too much gratitude cannot be felt to Miss Haines, who 
last year, at great expense, for which she did not expect 
remuneration, sustained Miss Boelte through the first crucial 
experiment, when comparatively nobody believed, and success 
was still a question. 

Besides the Kindergarten, Miss Boelte had a class of 
mothers all the year, to whom she explained the principles and 
plans of Froebel, both for the Nursery and the Kindergarten. 
The result has been triumphant, and this year children 
enough are offered, willing to pay $100 a year ; and a mother's 
class is again to meet once a week and pay $50. Mrs. Kraus 
also proposes to take a class of teachers to train, for which, 
as may be seen in Miss Haines' prospectus, $200 is charged 
for each. 

It is not often that a private educator is able to make 
an experiment for the public^ such as Miss Haines has 
made in this instance, even if one is enlightened enough to 
feel the faith in ultimate success that she did, from her 
knowledge of the system of Froebel, and of the great gifts 
of Miss Boelte, who had had signal success during fifteen 
years of work in Europe, partly in London and partly in 
Lubec ; at the latter place having all the proper conditions 
of success. Of this lady. Miss Haines finds the half had 



1 6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

not been told her ; and we alike congratulate Mrs. Kraus, the 
dream of whose life has been to introduce Froebel's art and 
science into America, that she has at last realized her gener- 
ous purpose ; and Miss Haines, that her enlightened policy 
has been justified by this success. 

" Great opportunities come but once." We trust that this 
opportunity of the training school will not be neglected by 
the many young women of New York who desire to lead a 
professional and artistic life. This is an artistic profession of 
the highest order, for human character is the highest 
material, and can only be moulded by the highest moral and 
religious inspiration, added to intellectual art; and since 
to attain this profession is to prepare for motherhood, 
which is the most important human relation, we hope 
the training school will always be full. It cannot be long 
before the public of New York will demand Kinder- 
garten as the basis of the public education, and then 
the demand for teachers will be great. Were the author- 
ities to decree this improvement to-morrow, it would 
be impossible to carry it out on account of the lack of 
teachers, for it is impossible to have Kindergartens without 
trained kindergartners. 

Meanwhile, we rejoice that the private Kindergarten begun 
in 1868, in Boston, by Miss Kriege, as the basis of Madame 
Kriege's normal school for kindergartners, has not ceased to 
exist, and was carried on by Miss Garland last year, with 
such efiect on children and their parents that this year she has 
more pupils oifered than she can take into her small, but very 
pleasant rooms ; and she is able to take for her partner Miss 
R. J. Weston, whose thoughtful paper on " Froebel the 
Builder," in our October number, sufficiently recommends her 
for the place. In consequence of this assistance, she has been 
able to set off a small number from her last year's Kindergai'ten 
for an advanced class, who for part of the forenoon continue 
their exercises in the Kindergarten, and part of the time learn 
to read and write. But she does not intend to take any child- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1/ 

ren into this advanced class, except those who have had 
the preliminary Kindergarten culture. There is every reason 
to suppose that by the next year both these classes will have 
so increased, that Mrs. and Miss Kriege may be induced to 
return, and the training class be enlarged to receive more 
than twelve pupils, to which Miss Garland feels obliged to 
limit it while she is alone. In this case we should have a 
normal institute for training, equal to any in the world by the 
quality of its teachers. We do not cease to hope that some 
Bostonian may arise^ as wise as Miss Haines, to give an 
adequate pecuniary basis to this institution, which has so 
bravely weathered tho winters of five years, with no capital 
or good conditions, but faith, hope, and the charity of self- 
devoting labor. Either the city, or some private benefactor, 
should endow this school with a house of large rooms and a 
small garden, somewhere at the West End. 

It will soon be necessary to have an enlarged class to- be 
trained for kindergartners ; for the Public Kindergarten 
OF Boston", now in its fourth year, has had a triumphant 
success at last. We noticed its little exhibition in our 
number for August. This year there has been so great a 
pressure for entrance, that the teacher asked her committee 
to pay an assistant, and allow her to enlarge her sittings; 
and when the assistant's salary was refused, a young lady, 
trained in Miss Garland's class last year^ whose parents are 
not willing that she should leave home to take a Kindergar- 
ten at a distance, volunteei-ed her assistance for a year 
gratuitously, from pure love of the work. We hope, therefore, 
that Miss Viaux will not be obliged to refuse any childi-en of 
the projDer age. 

But the mere pressure of new pupils into the public Kin- 
dergarten is not even the highest proof of its success. There 
is a still more striking proof of it in the impression made 
upon the primary teachers who have received into their 
schools, one of them ten, and another seven of the children 
prepared in last year's Kindergarten. The one said, "If all 



1 8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

my children were like these that you have sent me, keeping 
school would be quite another and pleasanter thing ; " and the 
other, a gentleman, who was proffering her some kindness, said, 
" I have vital interest in the Kindergarten, because I want it 
to feed my school, though I began with not believing in it." 
These testimonies confirm one given by Miss Rowe, a highly 
esteemed primary teacher, who (last spring, when the Kinder- 
garten Association was drafting its petition to Mayor Pierce 
for a Kindergarten at the North End and one at the South 
End, and some one suggested that it would not be granted, 
because the City Board would never vote to pay a teacher 
for every twenty-five children under the legal school age) said, 
" The city would find it a saving of expense. The materials 
cost no more than the books that are destroyed in primary 
school every year ; and two years of primary school might 
be saved. A child of no extraordinary natural gifts, who had 
been to Miss Alma Kriege's Kindergarten two years, came 
to me at seven, and easily passed through all the three grades 
of the primary school in one year^ because all his habits of 
mind were so well formed, and he had been taught both how 
to behave and leai-n." Another person remarked on hearing 
this statement, that " Since more than three-quarters of the 
pupils of the public schools leave school at fourteen, it was 
no slight advantage to save two years of the primary school 
time. But this would not be all the advantage of preparing 
the children of the city for primary school in the Kinder- 
garten. They learn their moral responsibility in the Kin- 
dergarten ; the age for it being precisely that in which the 
irresponsibility of the infant consciousness comes to a natural 
end, and the fatal moral bent is given, which, if wrong, can 
only be remedied by the most terrible trials of this pro- 
bationary state. The city will save more than the cost of a 
Kindergarten in every ward, by the diminution of the cost of 
jails and reformatory schools." 

The petition, which was the subject of consideration in 
the meeting where these remarks were made, was kindly 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 9 

received by Mayor Pierce, and submitted to the school 
committee, who in their turn referred it to the sub-committee 
on Kindergai'tens. They were in favor of its being granted, 
but were obliged to await the confirmatory action of the whole 
Board. But this has not had a quorum since, probably on 
account of the panic in the business world ; which afibrds 
another argument for having on school committees women, 
whose work admits of more regulai'ity, and who therefore 
can better command their time. We had intended to give a 
list of the Kindergartens in the United States, with their 
statistics, and the names of their accredited teachers, but we 
shall have to postpone it for want of room. Meanwhile we 
will complete our account of the public Kindergarten in 
Boston, by inserting the following letter from Mr. Thomas 
Gushing, the senior partner of the well-known school of 
Gushing & Ladd, which has been growing in stature and 
reputation for more than half a century in Boston, He 
visited the Kindergarten at my request, though it was not 
for the first time. But the letter explains itself. 

Boston, Nov. 1, 1873. 

My Dear Miss Peabody. — I cannot sufficiently thank you 
for having introduced me to so pleasant a field of observation 
and inquiry as is afibrded by the Kindergarten system of 
education for very young children. Following your sugges- 
tion, I have spent quite a number of odd half hours, and, to- 
day, the whole morning, in the public Kindergarten in 
Somerset Street. As you may remember that I had formerly 
little or no faith in the system, I thought you might like to 
hear from me, now that I have become a convert to its merits 
when properly carried out. My opposition grew out of 
ignorance of what it really was, and from having seen some 
poor specimens of the instructions given in so-called Kinder- 
gartens, which, I suspect, had little of the system but the 
name. 

In the school in Somerset Street I have witnessed the open- 



20 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

ing devotional exercises and singing, the instruction in 
drawing, music, and the elements of form and color ; also the 
cultivation of eye and taste by the working of patterns with 
many colored threads; and of imagination and constructive 
power by the use of blocks of wood ; and have listened to very 
interesting conversations growing out of the various objects 
constructed. I also saw plays ingeniously devised to give 
amusement and mental training together. I should have said, 
a priori^ that it was impossible to bring all these subjects 
successfully before the minds of children from three to five and 
a half years old, not one of whom could read a word ; but 
with remarkable tact and ingenuity, the teacher succeeded in 
interesting their little minds, and drawing out and develop- 
ing their ideas. The elements of grammar, also, were taught 
them in the most efficient manner, namely, by correcting 
errors in language before they grow into habits. 

The kind and gentle manner in which the school was 
governed, was something delightful to witness ; as well as 
the manifest affection of the children for their teacher, mak- 
ing the little group wear the semblance of a happy family. 

The city is to be congratulated on having commenced this 
experiment under so favorable auspices. As an introduction 
to the present system of primary education, nothing could be 
more useful than a general system of Kindergarten schools. 
It is to be hoped they will be established as fast as suitable 
teachers can be found and educated to take charge of them. 
Very truly your friend, T. Cushing. 



"We have just at this moment received the prospectus of 
the normal school of Worthington, Ohio, whose principal 
is Mr. John Ogden, long known as one of the most able and 
earnest educators of the West. He proposes that the art 
of kindergartning shall form a part of the curriculum for 
those prepared for it and who wish to study it. They will be 
taught by his wife (also known before her marriage as a very 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 21 

successful teacher in public schools, and an expert in the 
object teaching of Pestalozzi), in whose Kindergarten they 
will observe and practice. 

Mrs. Ogden, previously to her studies last year with Miss 
Garland, had given some years to the study of Kindergarten 
literature, and made experiments on her own children, which 
showed her the need of the more living study of children in 
the Kindergarten. Therefore, at great expense of energy and 
money, she took her children last winter and came to Boston, 
to go through the regular training, and qualify herself — not 
only to keep a Kindergarten, which she has done with suc- 
cess all summer, — but to communicate the art to others, who 
will have in addition, all the advantages of the general 
studies of the normal school, with Mr. Ogden's lectures on 
mental and moral philosophy to prepare them for appreciat- 
ing this fundamental process. We congratulate our Western 
friends on this opportunity for attaining the art and science of 
Froebel for so much less money than board and tuition must 
needs cost in Boston and New York. Mrs. Ogden, in a 
familiar letter, describing her own Kindergarten, which she 
has written to us, says (and it is a proof of her personal ability 
nncon&ciously hetrayecT), "I never saw happier children in 
my life. There is no governing to do, the children seem to 
be good and industrious — spontaneously." 



Dear Aunt Lizzy. — We had a beautiful lesson to-day in 
colors. Cousin Gi'etchen took the basket of colored balls 
and carried it round to all the children, and asked each one 
to take out a red ball, and every one did it without a mistake. 
Then she went round again, and asked each one to take out 
a yellow one. But some of the children made mistakes, and 
took out orange colored ones. She did not seem to mind it 
at first, but when she had done, she asked us all to hold up 



22 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

our balls and see if they were alike ; and then we cried out 
that Ben and Geordie had orange colored balls. Bat cousin 
Gretchen told us not to speak, but let Ben and Geordie 
see if their balls were alike, and they looked and said, Yes ; 
and then she told Harry to put his down beside them and see 
if they thought their balls were like his ; and when they had 
put it between their balls, they said it looked different, and so 
she told them that they might try again, and see if they could 
pick out yellow balls. She told them that the ones they had 
taken first were oi'ange colored, which was a color between 
yellow and red. She then gave them both pieces of yellow 
glass and of red (oh, such a beautiful carmine), and told them 
to put one on the other and look up at the window through 
them ; and when they did they shouted with joy, for it looked 
such a beautiful orange, and she gave us all pieces of red 
and yellow glass to look through, and said that she wanted 
us to know the difference between colors that were made by 
putting together two other colors, and those that could not. 
She said x-ed was a pure color — no other colors made it — 
and so was yellow. They were opposites — contrasts — not 
at all like each other, but the orange was made by putting 
them together; orange was made by connecting or rather 
combining the two. It was a little like red, and a little like 
yellow; when we put the red glass on top and looked through, 
it was a little more reddish orange, and when we put the 
yellow on the top, it was a little more of a yellowish orange ; 
and these tints were stronger if we took two reds and one 
yellow, or two yellows and one red. She then showed us 
some oranges, and we found some kinds of orange were 
reddish and some yellowish, but none were red or yellow. 
She then handed round the basket again, and we all took out 
orange colored balls. She then asked us to put down on our 
desks the contrasted colors and put the combined one between 
them, and then she said, The contrasted colors are called 
first colors — or primary colors, for primary means first — the 
orange color is called a secondary color. Now, Ben, said 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 23 

she, — is orange secondary or primary ? Ben did not answer, 
but Geordie said it was secondary, for it took two colors to 
make it. Tnen she said what is red ? and some said primary, 
some said first, and some said pure color, and she said we all 
were right, for primary means first, and a color that was not 
mixed with any other was pure. She then asked what is 
the contrast to red ? and they all called out yellow. Is that 
a pure color? she asked, and Harry said. Yes; and so it is 
primary, for no other colors make yellow. Then she told us 
all to put back our reds and yellows into the basket, and 
take our orange colored balls and have a play; and then 
we sat down to sew — and she let us each take a red, and a 
yellow, and an orange coloi-ed thread, and sew them into our 
cards, connecting the red and yellow lines that we made by 
an orange colored cross line. Afterwards we had an object 
lesson upon tulips, red, yellow, and orange colored, and she 
said if we took the bulb of a red or yellow tulip and sewed 
orange colored silk through it, there would come out orange 
colored stripes on the tulips. I mean to try if that is so. 
Your afiectionate 

Fanny. 



"John Keble published in 1846, his ' Lyra Innocentum ; or, 
Thoughts in Verse on Christian Children — their Ways and 
Privileges.' As the exquisite motto on its title page, ap- 
peared the words : ' Jesus called a little child unto Him and 
set him in the midst of them.' Upon the back of that title 
page appeared the familiar quotation from Wordsworth — • 

" O, dearest, dearest boy, my heart 
For better lore would seldom yearn, 

If I could teach the hundredth part 
Of what from thee I learn." 

The book was essentially a mother's book; it was one 
written about children, not for them. Its merit as a lyrical 
collection, though its success was great, has hardly ever been 
appreciated." — Bvery Saturday^ May 17, 1873. 



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IINDERGAETEN SYSTEM, 

FOR SALE BY 

^os, 22 and 24 Franlifort Street, New York, 



A. Douai. The Kindergarten. A Manual for the introduction of Froebel's 
System of Primary Education into Public Schools, and for the use of 
Mothers and Private Teachers. With 16 plates. Second edition. Cloth $1.00 
(The text of most of the songs and poetry is in both English and German.) 

"W. N. Hailman. Kindergarten Culture in the Family and Kindergarten. 
A complete Sketch of Froebel's System of Early Education, adapted to 
American Institutions. For the use of Mothers and Teachers. Illus- 
trated. Cloth $0.76 

Mrs. Matilda H. Kriege. The Child; its Nature and Relations. An 
elucidation of Froebel's Principles of Education. A free rendering of 
the German of the Baroness Marenholtz-Bulow. Second edition, printed 
on heavy tinted paper, tastefully bound in bevelled cloth, gilt top . . . $1.00 

Mrs. H. Mann and Elizabeth P. Peabody. Moral Culture of Infancy, 

and Kindergarten Guide. With Music for the Plays. Cloth .... $1.25 

Miss Henrietta Noa. Plays for the Kindergarten. Music by Ch. J. 

Richter $0.30 

(The text of the 19 plays is in both English and German.) 

£dw. Wiebe. The Paradise of Childhood. A Manual for instruction in 
Friedrich Froebel's Educational Principles, and a Practical Guide to 
Kindergartners. With 74 Plates. 4to $3.00 



A. DOUAI'S SERIES OF RATIONAL READERS, 

combining the Principles of Pestalozzi's and Froebel's Systems of Education. 
With a systematic classiflcation of English words, by which their Pronunciation, 
Orthography, and Etymology may be taught readily without the use of any new 
signs. By Dr. A. Douai. 

I. Introductory. The Rational Phonetic Primer. Boards $0.20 

II. The Rational First Reader. Boards •". .30 

III. The Rational Second Redder. Boards 50 

IV. The Rational Third Reader. Boards 80 

V. A Reform of the Common English Branches of Instruction. Manual 

for Teachers : an Introduction to the Series of Rational Readers. 
Contaming useful hints about the Teaching of Grammar, Elocu- 
tion, and Object Lessons, etc. Boards 30 



A very complete stock of imported Kindergarten Liiterature (in German, 
French, and English). 

SJindergarten Gifts, and Occtipation HEaterial on hand. Catalogues 
on application. 

E. STEIGEE, 22 and 24 Frankfort Street, New York. 



VOL. II. JANUARY, 1874. No. l. 



A PERIODICAL OF 24 PAGES. 



^linilcrgaiita Jl^seig^r, 



EDITED BY 



ELIZABETH P. PEABODY. 



TERMS ONE DOLLAE PER TEAR, IN ADVANCE, 

Payable to the Editor, 19 FoUen Street, Cambridge, Mass. 

Subscribers for 1874 can have the numbers for 1873 at half price — 
fifty cents — as long as the edition holds out. These numbers contain 
important matter that wiU not be repeated. 

TERMS OF ADVERTISEMENT. 

25 cents a line for short advertisements. 

15 cents a line for advertisements of 12 lines. 

Yearly advertisements as by agreement. 

Advertisements for the inside of the covers are solicited, especially 
from publishers, manufacturers of Kindergarten materials, and teachers 
of any branches of knowledge. ■ 



KINDERGARTEN TRAININa CLASS, 

At 181 E. Long Street, Ooluinbus, Ohio. 

IN CONNECTION WITH THE OHIO CENTRAL NORMAL SCHOOL, 

Located at Worthington, Ohio (nine miles nortli of Columbus). 

CONDITIONS. — Applicants must possess genuine sympathywith childhood, a 

thorough English education, and some musical ability. 
TIME. — The Class will be opened on the iirst Monday in January, but appUca- 

tionswill be received until February 1st. The course will extend through 

six months, comprising two lessons per week in Theory, with observation 

and practice in the Kindergarten. 
TEKMS. — Tuition for the whole course, $50. Persons attending the Normal 

School at "Worthington, $25 for the course. 
Boarding. — In Columbus, can be obtained at $5 per week. In Worthington, at 

$3 per week. 

Address, Mrs, JOHN OGDEN, 181 E. Long St., Columljus, Ohio. 

ENTOMOLOGIST, 

Recommends measures of relief from the depredations of Insects, and offers his 
services to Farmers, Gardeners, Merchants, Housekeepers, and others, at reason- 
able rates, for the detection, identification, and destruction of insects injurious to 
vegetation and to property. 

Fee for Infokmation, in person or by letter, two dollars. Assistance 
and correspondence offered freely to entomologists, and the like solicited from 
them. 

Instruction in the Elements and Principles of Entomology and 
Botany 

will be given by Lectures, demonstrations, or otherwise, in Schools or in the Field. 
Mr. Mann can be found at his office, 

IVo. 19 Folleu Street, Cambridge, AIa.ss., 

from three to five o'clock in the afternoon of every Titesday. d^^ Persons 
interested in the subject of Entomology are cordially invited to call. 

IS^os. 22 and 24 Frankfort Street, New York, 

imports 

Kindergarten Gifts and Occupation Material, 

and 

KINDERGARTEN LITERATURE, 

(ENGLISH, FRENCH, and GERMAN.) 
also publishes 

MORAL VULTURE OF INFANCY, and Kvidergarten Guide. By Mrs. 

Horace Mann and Elizabeth P. Peabody. With music and words 

for a dozen plays $1.25 

THE PARADISE OF CHILDHOOD. By Mr. Edward Weibe. 4to. 

74 plates 3.00 

THE CHILD; and its relations to God, Nature, arid Man. By Mrs. 

Matilda H. Kkiege 1.00 

KINDERGARTEN CULTURE. By W. Hailman T5 



lind^tprten ^^^$enpt. 



Vol. II. — JANUARY, 1874.— No. 1. 



■&LIMPSES OF PSYCHOLOGY. - No. 1. 

We speak of the necessity of studying childhood; we call 
children living books of nature, and say that we cannot 
succeed in educating them (which is putting them into a 
harmonious activity of all their powers,) without knowledge, 
such as a musical performer has of his instrument, of these 
" harps of a thousand strings." 

This fundamental knowledge of children is not chiefly a 
discrimination of their individualities; though observation 
of these will be made by a consummate kindergartener; it is 
a knowledge of what is universal in children, essential to 
the constitution of human beings, 

Froebel never wrote out, in systematic form, the phsychol- 
ogy which underlies and gives the rational ground to all the 
details of his method. But there are pregnant sentences in 
all his writings, and in his sayings handed down by tradition, 
which give such insights, that it can be divined with some 
completeness. 

We propose to give such glimpses as occur to us from time 
to time — not always in our own words — but as often as we 
can in Froebel's; and also in the words of other thinkers, 
whose guesses at this kind of truth light up their writings 
on many subjects. 

We must, in the first place, attend to one important fact ; 
there is, in the experience of childhood, somewhat pre-exist- 
ent to all impressions made by the universe, and consequently 



2 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER, 

to all operations of the understanding — perceiving, com- 
paring, judging — for these are intentional acts of the pre-ex- 
istent soul, breathed into his body and bidden to " have do- 
minion." — Genesis I. 

What is this pre-existent soul ; this mysterious depth of 
personality ? 

Washington Allston, in his posthumous lectures on Art, 
has finely said : " Man does not live by science ; he feels, acts, 
and judges right in a thousand things, without the conscious- 
ness of any rule by which he so feels, acts, and judges. Hap- 
pily for him, he has a surer guide than human science in that 
unknown power within him, without which he had been 
without any knowledge." Again he speaks of " those intui- 
tive powers, which are above and beyond both the under- 
standing and the senses ; which, nevei'theless, are so far from 
precluding knowledge, as, on the contrary, to require — as 
their effective condition — the widest intimacy with things 
external, without which their very existence must remain 
unknown." 

He does not, however, merely assert this pre-existence of 
the soul to the understanding, but sjjeaks of the evidence of 
it that we all can appreciate. " Suppose," he says, "we ana- 
lyze a certain combination of sounds and colors, so as to 
ascertain the exact relative qualities of the one, and the col- 
location of the other, and then compare them, what possible 
resemblance can the understanding perceive between these 
sovmds and colors? And yet a something within us re- 
sponds to both, in a similar emotion. And so with a thou- 
sand things, nay, with myriads of objects, that have no other 
affinity but with that mysterious harmony, which began with 
our being, which slept with our infancy, and which their 
presence only seems to have awakened ? If we cannot go 
back to our own childhood, we may see its illustration in 
those about us who are now in that unsophisticated state. 
Look at them in the fields, among the birds and flowers; 
their happy faces speak the harmony within them ; the divine 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 3 

instrument which these have touched, gives them a joy, 
which perhaps only childhood, in its first fresh consciousness, 
can knovs^, yet what do children understand of the theory of 
colors, or musical quantities?" 

That this mysterious power, this feeling soul, is the human 
chai'acteristic, is suggested in another paragraph of these lec- 
tures. " What, for instance, can we suppose to be the effect 
of the purple haze of a summer sunset on the cows or sheep, 
or even on the more delicate inhabitants of the air ? From 
what we know of their habits, we cannot suppose more than 
the mere physical enjoyment of its genial temperature? But 
how is it with the man, whom we shall suppose an object in 
the same scene, stretched on the same bank with the rumi- 
nating cattle ; and basking in the same light that flickers from 
the skimming birds ? Does he feel nothing more than the 
genial warmth ? " — Vol. I, p. 84. 

This feeling of beauty, this power which appreciates har- 
mony, this creative unity, in fine, this aesthetic soul, distinct 
from and above the understanding (which certain philoso- 
phers seem to think is all of man over and above his body), 
is not all of the soul, — but the moral and even merely social 
sentiment has the same pre-existence. Allston bears witness 
to this also. He says " With respect to Truth and Goodness, 
whose pre-existent ideas, being living constituents of an im- 
mortal spirit, need but the slightest breath of some outward 
condition of the true and good — a simple problem or a kind 
act — to awaken them, as it were, from their unconscious 
sleep. * * * * W^e may venture to assert that no phi- 
losopher, however ingenious, could communicate to a child 
the abstract idea of Right, had the child nothing beyond, or 
above the understanding. He might, indeed, be taught, like 
inferior animals, — a dog, for instance, — that if he took cer- 
tain forbidden things, he would be punished, and thus do 
right through fear. Still he would desire the forbidden 
thing belonging to another, nor could he conceive why he 
should not appropriate to himself — and thus allay his appe- 



4 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

tite — what was anothei''s, could he do so undetected; nor 
attain to any higher notion of Right than that of the strong- 
est. But the child lias something liigher than the mere 
power of appreliending consequences, (external ? ) The sim- 
plest exposition, whether of right or wrong, is instantly re- 
sponded to by something within him, which, thus awakened, 
becomes to him a living voice, and the good and the true 
must thenceforth answer its call. "We do not say that these 
ideas of Beauty, Truth, and Goodness will, strictly speaking, 
always act. Though indestructible, they may be banished 
for a time, by the perverted Will, and mockeries of the brain, 
like the fume-born phantoms from the witches' cauldron in 
Macbeth, may take their places and assume their functions. 
We have examples of this in every age, and perhaps in none 
more startling than the present. But we mean only that 
they cannot be (absolutely?) forgotten; nay, they are but 
too often recalled with unwelcome distinctness. * * * 

" From the dim present, then, we would appeal to that 
fresher time, ere the young spirit had shrunk from the over- 
bearing pride of the (vitiated ? ) understanding, and confi- 
dently ask, if the emotions we then felt from the Beautiful, 
the True, and the Good, did not seem, in some way, to refer 
to a common origin ? And we would also ask, if it was fre- 
quent that the influence from one was singly felt ? if it did 
not rather bring with it, however remotely, a sense of some- 
thing — though widely differing, — yet still akin to it? when 
we have basked in the beauty of a summer sunset, was there 
nothing in the sky, that spoke to the soul of Truth and Good- 
ness? And when the opening intellect first received the 
truth of the great law of gravitation, and felt itself mount- 
ing through the j^rofound of sj)ace, to travel with the planets 
in their unerring rounds, — did never then the kindred ideas 
of Goodness and Beauty chime in, as it were, with the fabled 
music (not fabled to the soul), which led you on as one en- 
tranced? And again, when, in the passive quiet of your 
moral nature, so predisposed, in youth, to all things genial. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 5 

you have looked around on this marvellous, ever-teeming 
earth, ever teeming alike for mind and body, and have felt 
upon you flow, as from ten thousand streams of innocent en- 
joyment ; did you not then almost hear them shout in con- 
fluence, and almost see them gushing upwards, as if they 
would pi'ove their unity in one harmonious fountain ? " 

It is of the last consequence that the kindergartener should 
take into her mind that this jesthetic soul exists in children 
as a primary fact; for, unless she believes in it, she will not 
respect it, and take advantage of it in what she does for them. 
It is to be respected and brought out into the understanding 
of children, by means of the beautiful things which she leads 
them to do and make, and with which she surrounds them ; 
for, as Allston says, this consciousness " requires as its efiec- 
tive condition, the widest intimacy with things external." 
When children are continually in squalid surroundings, these 
seem at length to strike in and paralyze the spontaneous ac- 
tion of the aesthetic being, who is pre-existent to conscious- 
ness of the power which compares and judges and makes up 
a theory of colors. And, as has been shown, this feeling of 
beauty, this power of appreciating harmony and unity, this 
aesthetic nature, distinct from and above the understanding, 
which some people idly think to be all of man beside his 
body, is not all of the soul, for the moral sentiment has the 
same pre-existence. 

We have brought together these paragraphs taken from 
Allston's lectures on Art, for the consideration of practical 
kindergarteners, all the more confidently, because they were 
not written as theory of education, but were parts of a prac- 
tical inquiry after the standard of judgmentfor pictorial and 
plastic artists and the spectator of their works. He sought 
to deliver them from the benumbing efiect of inadequate 
science, — for science must always be inadequate, as Newton 
so forcibly expressed, when he defined it " gathering a few 
pebbles on the shores of the infinite ocean of truth." The ob- 
ject of the lecturer, was what the kindergartener's first object 



6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

should be, — to awaken the self-respect of the eternal soul 
within us all, making the life of our individuality — our 
personality — which, in its mysterious depth and indepen- 
dent pre-existence to the finite understanding, is the image 
of the Divine Personality, whose spoken word is the material 
universe, and clothed in flesh becomes man. It is no part 
of the kindergartener's duty to give — she can only awaken 
— the feelings of harmony, beauty, unity, and conscience. 
She is to present the right order of proceeding, in all that 
the child shall do, thereby assisting him to form his own 
understanding so that his bodily organization may be pi-o- 
perly developed ; to let in upon his soul nature in its beau- 
teous forms and order, and his fellow-creatures, in their legit- 
imate claims upon him. Then he shall come forth from the 
sleep of unconscious infancy, into a progressive consciousness 
of all his relations, with the blessings and duties that belong 
to them. This forming of the understanding, this marrying 
of finite thought to infinite love, is Froebel's Education ; and 
cannot be accomplished, unless the kindergartener clearly sees 
what God has done for the child absolutely, and what for an 
inefiable purpose, — most gracious to the human race — He 
has left to be done by human providence, whether of the 
mother or kindergartener. 

It makes a heaven-wide difierence whether the soul of a 
child is regarded as a piece of blank paper to be written upon, 
or as a living power, to be quickened by sympathy, to be 
educated by truth. 



AFTEE KINDEEGASTEN, WHAT? 

I HAVE received the following letter, which is only one of 
many inquiries of the same general nature, made by pen 
or word of mouth ; and which, therefore, I propose to an- 
swer at once, though I have said pretty much the same thing 
in the tenth chapter of my Kindergarten Guide^ published 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 7 

by ScHERMERHOBN, 14 Boncl Street, New York. The Guide 
also answers, as well as I am able to do, many other ques- 
tions put to me by mothers in letters, which I have not time 
to answer adequately; viz., what are the essential requisites 
of a kindergartener ? the indispensable and also the desira- 
ble conditions of a Kindergarten ? the necessity and place of 
music? the mode of the movement plays, and of the plays 
called occuj^ations ? and the music and words for some dozen 
plays. 

"Deak Miss Peabody : I wish you would put an article into the 
Messenger, giving the reasons why learning to read is no part of 
the kindergarten course. I think nothing would smooth the path 
of kindergarteners so much, as to have this perfectly understood by 
the public. People look upon the Kindergarten as a device to Icill 
the time between the nursery and the schools of instruction in read- 
ing, instead of the mode of employing the children's minds to the 
best advantage. They do not realize that Froebel's occupations and 
plays are developing their thinking powers as well as employing 
their active forces, and marrying their iiupressiou of things, and 
consequent thoughts, to speech. Before this important work of 
forming the human understanding has begun to be accomplished, 
before children know how to express themselves in living speech, 
they want them to get an empirical knowledge of the art of reading 
loritten speech. 

" I think this comes, in part, from not realizing that something 
most important is done, when nothing is attempted but forming the 
mind by conversation; and also in part because the operation of 
learning to read is considered so formidable a difficulty, that (as I 
heard one lady say), 'it is well to have it over before children can 
think enough to be puzzled with the anomalies of the English spell- 
ing.' 

"Now caunot you make it plain that the kindergarten era is too 
precious a season to be employed m forcing upon perception arbi- 
trary signs, instead of presenting the significant things of nature 
and human art which they stand for? Don't you remember those 
excellent things Mr. Agassiz said in his last winter's lecture to the 
Woman's Club, on this very point; when he ridiculed our common 
practice of teaching children to read before their habits were formed 
of seeing things accurately, and classifying them according to their 
similarities, and of uttering themselves livingly in their mother 
tongue ? 



8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

" I wish you would describe your own method of teaching to read, 
which, when the children have been developed in the Kindergarten, 
can be done, I think, so much more rapidly and thoroughly than is 
done by the ordinary method, in months or even years. And why 
not reprint your own ' Nursery Book,' and Mrs. Mann's ' Primer of 
Reading and Drawing,' in an edition 6ombining them both, and add 
the anomalies classified, as you suggested in your Kindergarten 
Guide? 

"But do not call it a Kindergarten Primer, for that would give 
the idea that it is to be taught in the Kindergarten ; a word that 
ought to be sequestrated to designate the first stage of the Froebel 
education, when doing is the exclusive instrumentality of learning. 
By doing, I mean acting upon nature and with persons, which is the 
proper preliminary to thinking accurately, and feeling rightly, and 
these, in their turn, to expressing thought and feeling by manipula- 
tions, movements, and words, as you again and again said, in your 
last winter's lectures. I was talking today with one of the mothers, 
who has assured me she is thoroughly convinced that every occu- 
pation and play of the Kindergarten is of some specific use in vivi- 
fying some feeling of the heart, or developing some power of the 
mind ; and I thought she was indoctrinated in the whole truth, when 
she discouraged me by the question, ' Could n't you have an extra ses- 
sion for teaching Susie and some other of the healthy children, to 

read ; or would it be too much for you?' I said, ' My dear Mrs. 

it is not a question of my strength, or even of the children's bodily 
strength ! but it is the process of learning arbitrary signs, which it 
is desirable should be avoided by these yet unformed minds, until 
making forms of beauty and use shall organize them. They will be 
more rich and beautiful by dealing with the things of nature and 
art, than by the written words which represent them, and such deal- 
ing is necessarily involved in the occupations and symbolic move- 
ments. It has been well said that these attractive exercises that 
Froebel has invented enable children to play creation. Wordsworth 
expresses this idea in his great ode on the intimations of immortal- 
ity in our childhood.' " * * * * 

It is quite impossible in one number of the Messenger, to 
adequately answer the above letter. The young lady said 
what we would have said to the mother. We might have 
added that it is in the ecstasy of successful play, in which 
the imagination is predominant, that a child virtually obeys 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 9 

the original commandment of "having dominion," because 
he is then conscious of no power but that which wells up 
within him, from its Infinite Source. It is the first thing 
education should do, to cherish this power, by giving it suit- 
able materials and opportunity, as can only be done by pre- 
senting the elementary foi'ms and facts of nature, instead of 
arbitrary signs; for there is not one of these syllables of 
" the Word that was in the beginning," but has the power 
of vivifying, in the childish heart, the germ of some feeling 
which 

" Through earthly things awaits a birth," 
because 

" in Nature's humblest work, 

There lives an echo to some unborn thought, 

Akin to Man, his Maker, or his lot." 

By manipulating the playthings, the understanding is 
formed; because it necessitates exact conceptions of the 
materials and conditions of objective production, however 
childishly fanciful the production may be. 

To be in the face of nature, however, without human com- 
panionship and mediation, exciting action upon it for specific 
ends, is not enough ; — as we may see, by observing the un- 
cultivated inhabitants of the most beautiful regions. Fellow 
beings are nearer, with their vivifying magnetism, than the 
impersonal objects of nature ; and this is the reason why the 
social and mental exercises of the Kindergarten should pre- 
cede study of what is so purely the work of the finite human 
understanding as the letters of the alphabet, and their very 
arbitrary arrangement in English words. 

But the other question of the letter we will answer, and 
endeavor to show what a short and easy process learning to 
read may be made, if it shall be postponed to the end of the 
kindergarten course. And this will meet the difficulty, in 
most people's minds. There is a vague notion, that after the 
Kindergarten, a long time is to be given to the oi'dinary pri- 
mary school studies, and some people think and not without 



10 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

some reason, like the lady our correspondent mentions, that 
the development of the understanding will only make the 
anomalies of English spelling more obstructing than if they 
were impressed by rote on the sensuous memory, before the 
mind can come in, with its instinctive attempts at classifica- 
tion, to be forever bafiled. They will say, it may be well 
enough to put off learning to read in Germany, where the 
written language is phonographic, having a different sign for 
every different sound ; but no language — not even the 
French — is written with such utter defiance of the phono- 
graphic principle as the English. It cannot be learnt by 
scientific process ; but must be attained by means of some 
clever trick, of which Leigh's is, perhaps, the cleverest. 

It is true enough, that the English written language is the 
most wwj^honographic of any; the first and main reason of 
which is that the Latin monks, who began the literary edu- 
cation of England, undertook to write the language with the 
Roman alphabet, which is phonographic for Latin, but lacks 
letters for four vowels and four consonants, not heard in 
Latin ; namely, the initial sounds of an, on, t<p, and erst ; 
cAip, sAip, ^Aen, and tlivn. Had they had the wit to put dots 
under a, o, w, e, c, s, d, and ^, they would have had a perfect 
alphabet for English. 

But perhaps it will surprise our readers to learn, that, after 
all, the majority of English syllables are strictly phonographic, 
provided we sound the vowels as the ancient Romans did, 
and the modern Italians do; and keep c and g for hard 
sounds only. 

This fact suggested the plan of my first Nursery book ; 
which is to have children become acquainted at first with 
those English words only that are truly phonographic ; and 
for many years I have contemplated re-publishing it, in com- 
bination with Mrs. Mann's Primer of Reading and Drawing. 
To teach children to write with print letters, is found to be 
the most interesting and effective way of their learning to 
discriminate the letters, exemplifying Froebel's idea that 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. II 

children's attention can be easily commanded only to what 
they do Avith their hands. I have in manuscript, a book, 
embodying this method that has been tried for thirty years, 
chiefly in homes, but once or twice in schools, and always 
with signal success ; and it is found to make children more 
accurate in their orthography (as the Tcakography of England 
is pleasantly called), while it leaves out entirely, the weari- 
some and ineffectual oral spelling. Since we have been able 
to try the method on children who have had the kindergar- 
ten education of the discriminating eye and skilful hand, we 
have found it but a few days' work, to learn to print the Ro- 
man alphabet and its combinations, in those words, in which 
the phonographic sounds occur without exception. I will 
copy the first chapter into these pages. 



LESSON FIRST. 

The teacher stands before a blackboard, chalk in haud. The chil- 
dren sit before her with slates and pencils. 

She says, "Now I am going to teach you how to write and read 
words. What does little kitty say? — miu (phonographic for mew). 
All say it." The children say miu, and the teacher continues : "we 
put together our lips and sound m (she does not say em, but merely 
makes a sound with closed lips). Now first we will write so much. 
Make three lines up and down by the side of each other, and then 
join them on top with curves, so ; (here she will exemplify on the 
blackboard, and then direct,) "the first stroke shall be on the left 
hand side of one of the little squares on your slates ; the next, 
tolerably near the right hand side of the square; and the third, 
over in the next square ; now join the tops with little curves, as I 
do, and say ml," (teacher wUl sound the i short.) After the children 
have said ml, the teacher says, " Now we will make i (she sounds it 
short, — ih). " It is only one stroke on the right side of the square, 
and we put a dot over it — so ! Now we will write the other sound 
in miu, u. (She must sound it like oo in moon.) This is the way : 
two stx'okes and make a curve at the bottom. Now kitty says miii, 
a good many times, so you may write it a good many times. (As 
they do so, the teacher has time to look at all the slates. She can 
then continue,) "Now, old pussy sometimes says miu; but, in the 



12 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

night, she makes another cry, with more sound, opening her mouth 
wider, so;" the teacher then says, rather drawlingly, 

m-i-e-a-o-u, 

making the i as in ink, the e as in egg, the a as in art, the o as in no, 
and the u as in luna (oo). This will amuse the children to repeat. 
They then proceed to write mi as before, the teacher doing it, while 
giving the old direction: "three strokes joined at the top, with 
little curves ; one stroke with a dot. For e (the teacher pronounces 
it as in egg), make almost a circle in the square, but open on the 
right hand, and draw a line cutting off the top, so ; (the teacher 
must exemplify with her chalk, as she directs) a is the most diffi- 
cult letter to make : first, in the lower half of a square, make a little 
mite of an egg ; now over the egg to the left make a dot ; then draw 
a curve from the dot to the lower right hand of the egg, so ; what 
does that look like ? I think it looks like a snake, standing on its 
tail, and bending over its head to look at the egg ! Now o is a circle, 
rather inclining to an oval, which you can put into the next square; 
and you know already how to write u in the next square to that. 
And naw you may write mieaou over again yourselves." The teach- 
er can then go round and look at the slates, and suggest to put a 
finish to the letters m and u by joining a dot on the upper left hand 
side of the m, and one at the lower right hand side of the u. 

These vowels are enough for one lesson, and mlu and mieaou can 
be left, neatly printed on their slates, and on the -blackboard, and 
the next day they will be read at sight. 



LESSON SECOND, 

Should be taken up with making words in which the vowel sounds 
occur, without exception. But it will be observed, that though they 
are heard in the large majority of English syllables, the most com- 
mon words used in conversation, are not phonographic. We are, 
therefore, able to make but few sentences with the phonographic 
words. This is of little consequence at first, when the children's 
attention is occupied with learning to write the print. 

It is best to learn the consonants, gradually, in the words. Begin 
by asking " Who cries mieaou? they will say "the cat," or "puss." 
You reply, "we will write puss. But first say it: you see we put 
our lips close together, and then open them, blowing a little, so. 
(Don't say pee, but rather ep.) Now draw a line down, a little fur- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 3 

ther than the side of one square, and then in the square at the right 
hand, draw a curve which looks like your upper lip, pouting : in the 
next square, make an u (remember to say — not yu — but 00.) 
That makes pw, and then you must make ss, (making your breath 
sound between your nearly-closed teeth.) To make s, we begin 
with a dot on the right hand upper side of the little square, and 
make a curve towards the left, and then a curve towards the right, 
so: now, in the next square, put another s — for, in books, when 
they write puss, they always put s twice. Now write puss again, 
yourselves. 

" How do you think we can make puss into pussy ? " Some child 
may say, "One stroke with a dot;" you reply, that is the most 
common way of writing ?A, but there is another way. Make two 
slanting lines meet at the bottom of a square, and then draw the 
right hand one a little longer down. That is %h, with a tail ; and 
the other one is ih, with a dot. In books, they always write pussy 
with the ?A, with a tail. What min.s'i The children will answer, 
" the little kitty," and you will say, " should you like to write kitty? " 
Begin higher up than the square, and draw a line down on the left 
side, and then inside the square, make two slanting strokes meet, 
so ; then make an %h with the dot, and then make a stroke not so 
high as you did for A, above the line. (The teacher must not say 
Icay and tee., but rather Ik and et.') Now make another et, and then 
%h with a tail. Now that is kitty, and you can write, kitty mius, 
and pussy mieaous. 

(If the learner is a foreigner, it may be necessary to call the at- 
tention to the different sound of s and ss, and say that when s comes 
alone at the end of the word, or between two vowels inside a word, 
it sounds 0; but children to whom English is vernacular, will al- 
ways sound the s right by the ear. If we should write z whenever 
the sound occurs, our language would look as full of z as the Polish.) 



LESSON THIRD. 

Begin with pointing to the two sentences written in the last les- 
son, and if the children can read them, go on with more words. 
The words, hens' eggs will give three more consonants. Let the 
children observe that A (call it not aitch., but give the breathing, 
which it is), is made by a stroke on one side of' a square, beginning 
half way up in the next square above ; then draw a short stroke like 
i and join with a curve. You know how to write e {eK) ; then write 
n, just like Yi, only the first stroke does not go above the line. Now 



14 " KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

skip a square, and write e ; and then making tlie sound of g hard, 
not jee, and tell the children to write it thus : in the lower half of 
the square, make a small o, and at the upper right join on a dot : 
under the o, below the line, make an egg shape and join it on the 
right to the o by a curve. Then write another g, and then an s. 
Show the children how to put the apostrophe after hens, and tell 
them that means that the eggs belong to the hens. The sentence, 
jars full of jelly, will give four more letters, j, r, /, I ; mamma expects 
papa, car bells ring, give three, ic, c, & ; mamma's velvei dress fits 
well, adds d, «, tu ; mamma is dizzy, completes the alphabet with z. 
The teacher, with each new letter (whose power or sound she gives, 
always ignoring the name, or, if the children happen to know it, 
saying to them, we will not call them by their names, but their 
sound), I will make the new letter on the blackboard, describing 
it, as she does so, thus; "j is like % with a dot, only we will draw 
it below the square, and turn it to the left; v is two slant lines, 
meeting at the bottom of the square ; / is a stroke beginning above 
the square, and we will curve its top to the right, as if it were mak- 
ing a bow, and cross it in the middle; i! is one stroke beginning 
above the square ; x, two slant lines, crossing each other ; c begins 
with a dot on the right hand, and makes almost a circle ; 6 is a stroke 
like I, and a curve on the right, like the lower lip pouting out ; d is 
opposite to 6, putting the curve behind ; t begins a vei'y little above 
the square, and goes down through it; then I cross it just at the 
top of the square; w is two vS arm in arm, and z, two horizontal 
lines, joined by a diagonal from the upper right to the lower left." 

As old letters are repeated in these sentences, it is well for 
the teacher who dictates them, to ask some child to tell how 
the letters are made in each instance ; and the result will be, 
that when all the sentences have once been written, the chil- 
dren should be called upon each day, to read from the black- 
board, or the book, all the sentences that they have written 
before. When they have written them all, they can take the 
book, and read at sight, without spelling, all the words in the 
First Part. 

It will be observed that no capitals are as yet given to the 
children, for the little letters are the most important; but 
when the small letters are impressed so strongly that any 
phonographic word, written, can be recognized at sight, and 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 5 

written at "the dictation of the word, we can say that " at the 
beginning of sentences, and of the names of persons and 
jDhices, we always make the letter larger ; as in the sentences, 
Cora spins yarn ; Julia's kitten drinks milk ; Owen tells Willy 
a story ; Victoria's basket is full of roses, pinks, tulips, anem- 
ones; Frederic digs in his garden; Isabella is kissing Susy. 
Some of the capitals are of different forms ; but they will 
easily be learnt, by letting the children write, first, the little 
letters, and then the large letters, by the side of each other, 
thus : a. A, b, B, &c. 

LESSON EOUETH. 

When the children have mastered all the words written 
phonographically (according to the original Roman alpha- 
bet), the teacher will proceed to four additional consonants, 
which are heard in English but have no letter appropriated 
to them; the initial sounds of cAip, sAip, ^Ain, and ^Aen. 
Already they have had the consonant dsh^ which is not in 
Latin ; but for that they have learnt to put the letter J, which 
is a superfluous Roman letter, used when i comes before an- 
other vowel (for J in Latin, and also in German and Italian, 
sounds like the consonant y). Perhaps this may be a good 
time to define to children the words, vowel and consonant ; 
showing that vowel (vocal) means a mere sound of the voice, 
which can be indefinitely prolonged; and consonant is an 
articulation of the voice, fii'st by the lips, as m, p, h^ f.^ « ; 
secondly, by the throat, as c, h^ q,* h ; thirdly, by the teeth, 
as £?, if, s, z. It can also be shown that the semi-vowels, ?, m, 
w, and r, are articulated a little by means of the tongue and 
nose. The I rolls as a liquid smoothly over the tongue, the r 
roughly, and m and n sound through the nose. Children 

* c, fc, and q stand for one sound, c being the Latin letter,.and Ic and q Greek let- 
ters, whicli were at first introduced into the later Latin, as abbreviations of the 
syllables ca and cu. When c was corrupted by the English, into the sound of s 
before e and i, the k besame convenient to preserve the old sound, in some in- 
stances, as in the diminutive of cat — kitten. 



1 6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

love to classify, and will be interested in making these divi- 
sions on their slates, and naming each class by a distinctive 
name, as lip-letters, throat-letters, tooth-letters, tongue-let- 
ters, nose-letters, which they should do before they use the 
Latin derivatives from labia, lip ; guttur, throat ; dens, tooth ; 
lingua, tongue ; nasus, nose ; labials, gutturals, dentals. Ung- 
uals, and nasals. The aspirates (breathings) are h and w. 

Now you will say, " what is the first sound of chip ? " They 
will make the sound ch. " What letter do you write ch with ? " 
" They reply, there is no letter cA." " That is true ; the Latin 
people never said ch, and so they invented no letter for it. 
The English might have made one by putting a dot under c, 
but instead of that they put h after it, so — ch. When you 
want to write that sound you must write c and h. Now 
write chip, rich, chess, chick, chest, and I think you will 
never forget it." It is not worth while to call their attention 
at this time, to the fact that many words derived from the 
Greek write ch for the sound of k ; because in their childish 
story books these Greek derivatives seldom or never occur. 

You proceed to ask, " what is the first sound in ship ? " They 
will tell, and perhaps say that there is no letter for it ; and you 
can explain it as before, by saying that this sound, also, was 
unknown, and so unwritten by the Latins; and that the 
English might have made a new letter, simply by putting a 
dot under s, but that they chose to put the letter h aftei- it 
instead. 

After they have written ship, shell, shin, wish, dish, you 
can ask, " what is the first sound in thin ? " and show how it is 
written, when there might have been invented a letter for it 
by putting a dot under the t. Then ask them, what is the 
first sound in then ? and make them perceive that it is as 
difierent from the initial of tliin as d is different from t ; and 
that a distinct letter might have been invented for this sound 
by putting a dot under d. But some teachers may think it 
hardly worth while to speak of this nice difference, since 
both sounds are actually written with th. Then tell them to 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 7 

write on their slates, thin, think, thing, thick, with, within, 
them. Give them the book, and let them pronounce (with- 
out spelling) at sight, the columns of words in which these 
additional consonants occur. 

At this point it may be a good plan to ask the children, 
" what is the first sound in when? " and call their attention to 
the fact that the aspirate h (which you will call — not aspi- 
rate but a breathing)., comes before the w in words beginning 
with wh. You can, perhaps, tell them that the Anglo Sax- 
ons, from whom the English took these words, wrote them 
hvich, hven, but before printing was invented they found it 
convenient to write the h after the m, and so it has always 
been printed in English books. Let them then write which, 
when, whist, whip, whit. 

We now tell the children that there are more vowels in 
English than in Latin, as well as more consonants. They 
know only those beginning the words, art, egg, ink, old, and 
the one ending Peru. But what is the sound that begins an, 
and, at ? They will make the sound, and you can say they 
ought to have made a new letter for this new sound by put- 
ting a dot under a {ah)., but they did not, and so you must 
learn to give a second sound to a {ah), and write a great 
many words with it. Dictate at, pat, rat, cat, sat, &c., and 
show in the books columns of words that they can read off 
at sight. We had better call the letter a (ah), because that 
sound is the one that comes oftenest in English, as well as 
always in Latin and Italian. 

Now ask them to make the first sound in ox (which is gen- 
erally called short o, but is no sound of o at all). There 
might have been a dot put under o, and thus a new letter 
made for this sound. It comes a great deal in English, and 
you may write ox, rock, pot, got, and read the columns in 
the spelling book. But it does not come so often as the 
sound of 0, and so o is the best name for it. 

" Now tell what is the first sound of up ? How could a new 
letter have been made for this sound ? " They will say, " a dot 



1 8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

under xi (oo)," " Well, instead of that they only wrote w, and 
we have to learn the words where it sounds as in up, cup, 
sup, sun, tun, fun, gun, &c. Tou may write these words and 
then read the columns in the book. 

" Now can you tell me how the word irk begins to sound ? 
This sound is written with four of the vowels ; you may 
write on your slates, in a row, with spaces between, — 

irk, work, erst, urn. 

They might have made one new letter for this sound by put- 
ting a dot under the % {ih), but they did not; and you have 
to remember all these different ways of writing this sound, 
with sometimes one of these letters and sometimes another. 
But there are not a great many such words, and they are put 
in separate columns in the book, and you can copy them 
ujDon your slates ; and then you can learn them by heart, 
and can answer these questions, viz.: " What words are there 
in which this first sound of irk is written with ^? in what 
words with o ? in which with e ? and in what with w ? " The 
answers will be respectively the words in the four columns.* 
" Now," you will say, '* I have another set of words for you 
to write. What are the first sounds in oj7?" The children 
will give the second sound of o (ox) and the first sound of i 
(ih). You will say ''Now, in oi are two sounds that run 
into each other, and seem one sound, so it is called a diph- 
thong. There is another diphthong that sounds ah-oo, and 
is written with ou, and sometimes ow. Write on your slates 
oil, and near by, boy, (making the ih with a tail — y.) Now, 
under oil, write coil, boil, foil, soil, toil, foist, hoist, moist, and 
under boy, write coy, joy, loyal, annoy. Now write out and 



* The children have now learnt how to write nine vowels and twenty-three con- 
sonants, and the English alphabet, if a, i, o, u, c, d, s, t, were dotted and added 
for the eight extra sounds of English, would make our alphabet a perfect phono- 
graphy, and a much less objectionable one than Pitman's; but it is probably too 
late to change now, since it would obscure the etymological history of words so 
much, and make all the old printed books unreadable. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 9 

COW, and under out, bout, flout, gout, lout, rout, pout, and 
under cow, how, now, sow, vow, bow-wow." 

There is another diphthong, very common in Latin, made 
of the first sounds of a and i, or a and e, but which is written 
in English, with the one letter, we have always pronounced 
^^, but which is now to be pronounced as if it was written 
ahee ; you pronounce it so when you mean yourself, and write 
it with a capital I. Sometimes this diphthong is written with 
* (with a dot), and sometimes y (with a tail). (See columns.) 

Another diphthong written with two letters is iw, and yu. 
So there are four diphthongs in English, written oi and oy, 
ou and ow, iu and yu^ and i. The teacher will pronounce 
the % as a diphthong ah and i. * (See columns of these.) 

We may now be told that after all, the chief difficulty of 
English orthography is yet to come, of which the children 
have got only the first glimpse in finding that one sound is 
to be written by four different letters, i, e, o, and u\ — for 
every vowel in English is written in several different ways. 

This difficulty seems greater than experience has proved it 
to be. A great deal has been gained when children have 
learned to write phonographically with the Roman alphabet- 
By having these primitive associations with the letters they 
can read, at sight, the bulk of English syllables, if not words, 
and can pronounce Latin as the old Romans did, and have 
most of the vocalization of Italian, Spanish, and other lan- 
guages, written by the same alphabet. 



* These are proper diphthongs — two sounds made by one impulse of the voice. 
We say nothing of improper diphthongs ; hut treat what have absurdly been called 
so, under the head of silent letters. 



20 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 



TESTIMONY TO PROEBEL'S METHOD. 

BY AN OCTOGENARIAN. 

Among the encouraging letters which the editor of the 
Kindergarten Messenger has received, several have been 
from very old people. As, leaving the valley of life, they go 
up the mount of transfiguration and ascension, they have a 
clearer sight of childhood's Paradise, upon the opposite sum- 
mit, illuminated by the rising, as the mount of old age is by 
the setting sun of Divine Truth, — which only seemingly 
rises and sets, as we revolve on our own axis. 

I am tempted to copy, without leave asked, a letter dated 

"December 8, 1873. 

"I have tlie pleasure to acknowledge, though later than I could 
have wished, the receipt of your letter, and the package of pam- 
phlets you were so kind as to send me, on Child-culture. * * * * 
They have already inclined me to the acceptance of your beautiful 
system. At present I know too little about it ; but will try to learu 
more. If I confess-that I am even ignorant of the true pronuncia- 
tion of its name, whether the i in it should be long or short, — you 
will quickly detect my lack of German, that rough key to so many 
mental treasures, — of which I have thoughts of commencing the 
study this winter, — although I am now over eighty, — encouraged 
by your notable plan for yourself, and the example of Cato, who, 
you know, commenced the study of Greek at my age. 

" Kindergarteniug — child-gardening — the cultivation of human 
plants — infant soul-training — what a charming idea! Strange, 
we have all, though hardly conscious of it, been child-gardeners 
(pretty poor ones, too,) from Adam down; and now are just begin- 
ning to catch the true notion of the thing, and to desire to see our 
more than merely sensitive young mimosas actually under the pro- 
per culture. Think how absurd — I had almost said wicked — to 
entrust such delicate sprites to the rough handling of ignorant 
nurses. Yes, God's exquisite workmanship, incomparably finer than 
prize specimens of Sevres china, which I have known to be ignorantly- 
rapped upon and broken with an iron spoon by Irish servants. 
What might not we all have become by this time, had the true kin- 
dergarteuing been in vogue before we were born ! 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 21 

"Froebel appears to me to have descended deeper into the well 
of Truth than any other educator, and to have brought up a truth- 
gem of inestimable value VFhen he discovered his great principle, 
viz. : the necessity of stuc ying the earliest baby efforts of godlike 
man. To his honor be it said, that he was not content to let the 
divine gift of a soul sprawl out into unmeaning growth, but sought 
to train it, as you would the tendrils of a vine, into vigorous beauty 
and healthful fruit. 

" Kindergartenism must, I think, eventually succeed, though 
slowly, by inherent right of its intrinsic merit, underlying as it does 
the magnificent structure of this world's new education. I do not 
ask for it the quick shooting of the aspen, but the slow and sturdy 
manifestation of the oak ; for the public mind needs first, with long 
toil, to be disabused of the errors you mention. Then, its name is 
a foreign word. * * * To be properly appreciated, it must be 
observed and examined, not carelessly, but repeatedly in its school 
evolutions, and occasional public exhibitions, under well-trained 
teachers. Oh, for the multiplication of such ! and for the thousand- 
fold increase of ti-acts like the Messenger, from able pens, espe- 
cially of those to whom may God give strength and patience, — its 
life-devoting friends. 

" I, too, must try to do for the cause, in my neighborhood, what I 
can, somehow. 1 hat anything can be effected for it in Kittery is 
doubtful; but, possibly, in Portsmouth. The vis inertiae of the 
body, at eighty, is almost an overmatch for the vis animi. One then 
has to strive, with impaired strength of will, against the dread of 
locomotion ; but nil desperandum is an inspiring prompter. * * * 

" Respectfully and with great regard, 

" Your obedient servant, 

"DANIEL AUSTJN. 
" Willow Bank, Kittery, Maine." 



STORY versus HISTORY FOR KINDERGARTENS. 

We were very much amused at seeing in the newspaper 
an advertisement of a book called, '■'■Seven Ages of History, 
for Kindergarten Schools^ 

Kindergarten schools is rather a misnomer. Kindergarten 
is a preparation for school life, the paradisiacal era that pre- 



22 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

cedes sombre, prosaic history ; which is a premature subject 
of consideration for children, before they are seven years old! 
Very like, the book in question is excellent for the primary 
school, which comes after the Kindergarten ; but in Kinder- 
garten those fanciful and imaginative stories, where the 
beginning and end are so very near together that the whole 
can come within the scope of the infantile ideal, are to be 
told orally. Tliey will best prejDare for history at a later 
stage. For we agree with Carlyle, that when history is con- 
templated in long reaches, by matured minds, it is a grand 
poem, satisfying the claim of Ideal Justice. Though men, 
just in proportion to their personal energy, may interfere 
with the Divine Laws of moral order, to learn, through the 
retributions of the third and fourth generations, their social 
responsibilities, yet the righteous will of God is always 
brought about; if not by our willing, glad co-operation, then 
by reactive falls of dynasties and empires, French revolu- 
tions, and other events, by which the mercy of God proclaims 
in thunders and lightnings, for the children's sake. Hitherto 
shalt thou come, and no farther. 



{Frcmx Froeiel's " Mutter tend Rose Lieder."] 

Bump, bump, bump ! 

What noise is that, my dearie ? 
Thump, thump, thump ! 

Till your little flst is weary. 

Tap, tap, tap ! 

With the stick upon the table ; 
Rap, rap, rap! 

As hard as you are able. 

Bang, bang, bang ! 

With your spoon upon the tea-tray : 
Clang, clang, clang ! 

Oh, nursey, — what will she say ? 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER, 23 

Ting, ting, ting ! 

With the spoon upon the china ; 
Ring, ring, ring ! 

Could any noise be finer ? 

Ding, dong, dong ! 

With the spoon upon the kettle ; 
What a pretty song 

Greets baby from the metal ! 

Boom, boom, boom! 

Old nurse will have a notion 
A band is in the room, 

There 's such a vast commotion. 

N". B. — This song vrith the accompanying play and vp-ords is good 
to teach the child to discriminate sounds, developing the sense of 
hearing. 



LETTER PROM A KIOTESGARTEIT. 

Deae Aunt Lizzy : It is Wednesday, again, and so we 
had another lesson on colors : I told you about our lesson on 
the yellow and red, and their combination, orange. Today 
Cousin Gretchen gave us the red and yellow glass again ; but 
she added another, a piece of blue glass, and told us to put 
it on the yellow and look up at the light ; and to be sure, it 
made a most beautiful green ! She held up her hand so that 
the rest of us should not speak, and then she asked Ben, 
what color was made by the yellow and blue, and he said 
green, and we all held up our hands and she let us all say 

— green. There were two tints of green made, first by put- 
ting the yellow next our eye, and then putting the blue ; but 
it was always green. She then carried round the basket, and 
told us each to take out a red, yellow, orange, and green ball. 
She then asked, which of these were primary and which 
secondary; and told us to arrange the primaries with the 
secondary colors between them, and I put them in this order, 

— red, orange, yellow, green, blue. She then asked us to 
put the blue glass on the red one, and look at the light ; and 
when we did so, everybody cried out purple ! purple ! and so 
we learnt that blue and red make purple. She told us to 



24 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

shift the glass and put the red on the bhie, and some of the 
children thought the red purple was more glorious than the 
blue purple. She said, if we put two blues on the red purple, 
it made a darker tint, which was called violet; and she had 
flowers (violets) to compare. She then brought round the 
basket for us to choose a purple ball, which I put into the 
row on my table next to the red, but some put it next the blue. 
Cousin Gretchen said both places were right, but she would 
like to have us all put it next the blue. When we had done 
so she asked,what colors are combined in purple? We all said, 
red and blue. So she told us to take the red ball from one 
end of our row and put it next the purple one ; and then she 
said, you see purple is the connection of blue and red. Then 
she asked if there was not another secondary, beside purple, 
that could be put by the red ball, and we said yes, orange. 
So she told us to put the orange one on the other side of the 
red, and she asked, is orange primary or secondary ? of course 
we said secondary. Why ? said Cousin Gretchen ; tell me, 
Geordie! and he said because orange is made ot red and 
yellow. Well, then, Cousin Gretchen said, put the yellow by 
the orange, and now what other secondary to yellow is there 
beside orange ? We said green, and took the green ball and 
put it beside the yellow one. Cousin Gretchen then told us 
to take two contrasts among the secondary colors. I took 
the orange and green, and she asked me what primary color 
connected them, and I said yellow. Then Ellen put all three 
glasses together and looked through, and it made another 
color. She asked Cousin Gretchen wliat that was, but she 
said she did not want to give the Utile children more than 
the three primaries and the three secondaries to look at now. 
But she said there were countless combinations to be made, for 
we could put these three together a dozen ways, and looking 
through them at the light should see as many tints ; and we 
might put the whole six together in ever so many ways, and 
it would be excellent exercise for painters ; and by gathering 
all kinds of flowers and gems, we could give names to these 
colors, but for a long while children had best have only six 
colors to think about, and give names to. Dear Aunt Lizzy, 
in writing only once a month I have not time or room to 
copy half the interesting things I put into my journal about 
Kindergarten and the Nursery. 

Your loving neice, 

Fanny. 






VOL. II. 



FEBEUAEY, 1874. 



No. 2. 



A PERIODICAL OF 24 PAGES. 






EDITED BY 



ELIZABETH P. PEABODY. 



TEEMS ONE DOLLAR PER TEAR, lU ADVANCE, 

Payable to tlie Editor, 19 Follen Streetj Cambridge, Mass. 

Subscribers for 1S74 can have the numbers for 1873 at balf price — 
fifty cents — as long as the edition holds out. Tliese numbers contain 
important matter that wOl not be repeated. 

TERMS OF ADVERTISEMENT. 

25 cents a line for short advertisements. 

15 cents a line . . k for advertisements of 12 lines. 

Yearly advertisements as by agreement. 

Advertisements for the Inside of tlie covers are solicited, especially 
from publishers, manufacturers of Kindergarten materials, and teachers 
of any branches of knowledge. 



^^'&- 



H. N. McKINNEY & CO., 

Publishers and Booksellers 

PHILADELPHIA, PA. 

Will issue, in February, in a series of pamplilel«, at 25 cents eacli, 

lectures on The Nurseff and Tlie Kindergarten, 

By Miss E. P. PEABODY. 

These Lectures, which were addressed to the Normal Class in training by Miss 
Garland, were read to them and the parents and friends of education — who sub- 
scribed to sustain the free class, in the winter of 1872-73, in Boston. 

Miss Peabody, being obliged to refuse to go to a distance and repeat these Lec- 
tures, has consented to their publication in a serial form. 

They will be sold in Boston at Williams's, corner of School and Washington 
Streets. Orders solicited. 



THE STUUGaLE FOR EXISTENCE, 

{AFTER THE GERMAN OF ROBERT BYR,) 

-FSy .^^tj:^:bs It ^^ €3> n. lES s T? X E3 :e^. . 

One Vol. 12mo. 360 pages. Price, $1.50. 

•'Intense fascination of plot pi-evai1s throughout the worls:, and the language is - 
finished and elegant."— Oyer Land and Hea. 

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Vol. II.— FEBRUARY, 1874.— No. 2. 



THE EDUCATION OF MAN. 

BY FBIEDKICH FEOEBEL. 

Translated from the French version of the Baroness Crombnigghe, by E. P. P. 

An Eternal and unique law governs all things. Exter- 
nally, it is manifested in nature ; internally, it is revealed in 
intelligence, and in the union of nature and intelligence. It 
is revealed in life in a clear and precise manner. The soul 
and mind of man recognize its necessity; it cannot not be; 
it is self-evident. By the interior of beings and things, it 
brings man to know their exterior, as it makes use of their 
exterior, to demonstrate their interior. 

This law that governs all things, necessarily has for basis 
a unity, acting in all, whose principle is true, clear, active, 
conscious to itself (conscient), therefore eternal. The law 
which causes this unity to be accepted, whether by faith or 
examination, has been, and always will be recognized and 
consented to, by every attentive soul, and every educated 
intelligence. This unity is god. Every thing pi-oceeds 
from God, only ; God is the one principle of every thing. 

The end or destination of each thing is to express {publier 
au dehors) its own being, the working of God in it, how the 
latter is confounded with it, and, at the same time, makes 
God knoAvn. The vocation of man, considered as a reason- 
able intelligence, is to let his own being act by manifesting 
God, who works within him ; to make God known ; to ac- 



2 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

quire knowledge of his own true destiny, and accomplish it 
in all liberty and spontaneity. 

The education of man is nothing else than the way or 
means which conducts the intelligent, reasonable, and self- 
conscious being, to exercise, develop, and manifest the ele- 
ment of life that he possesses in himself. Its aim is to bring, 
by knowledge of this eternal law, and the principles it in- 
volves, every intelligent, reasonable, and self-conscioUs being 
to know his true vocation,^ and fulfil it, spontaneously and 
freely. 

The whole art of education, therefore, is founded upon a 
profound knowledge and exercise of this law, which alone 
conducts to development and expansion of the intelligent 
being, and alone can lead him to accomplish his destiny. 

The end of education is to form man to a pure and holy 
life according to his vocation ; in a word, to teach him wis- 
dom. 

Wisdom is the culminating point toward which should 
tend all the efforts of man ; it is the sublimest portal of his 
destiny. The double action of wisdom consists in man's 
educating himself by educating others, with conscience, lib- 
erty, and spontaneity. Wisdom has been exercised by the 
individual being since the first appearance of men upon 
earth ; it showed itself with the first manifestation of human 
consciousn jss ; it has revealed itself ever since, as a necessity 
of the human race ; and by that title, it is to be listened to 
and obeyed. By wisdom alone can man obtain the legitimate 
satisfaction of his wants external and internal ; by wisdom 
alone find happiness. 

It is necessary that the whole being of man be developed 
with consciousness of his origin, that he may educate his soul 
to the knowledge of his future life, and know how to mani- 
fest it in himself while he is still upon earth. 

The education and instruction which man receives, ought 
to reveal to him the divine, spiritual, eternal action in nature, 
and unfold to his mind, as well as to his eyes, those laws of 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 3 

reciprocity which govern nature and man by uniting them to 
each other. Education and instruction should lead man to 
recognize that both the principle of his own existence and 
that of nature, rest in God ; and that it is man's duty to man- 
ifest this principle by his entire life. 

Education should bring man to know himself well ; to live 
in peace with nature, and in union with God ; therefore, it 
must first educate him to the knowledge of God, of general 
humanity, and of nature, external and internal. Afterwards, 
it should give him the means of uniting himself to God, by 
proposing to him the model of a life, faithful, pure, and holy. 
{To he. continued.'] 



GLIMPSES OP PSYCHOLOay.-No. 2. 

We have spoken of the evidences of the assthetic being 
found in the mysterious depths of human personality, pre- 
existent to the individual understanding (which is a growth 
in time) ; and that, without there were this aesthetic being, 
underlying all individual consciousness, there would be no 
standard of human virtue or art. 

This aesthetic person has also (previous to the develop- 
ment of the understanding, which makes the synthesis of 
himself and nature) an impulsive force, instinct with the 
desire to change his conditions. Man does not appear in the 
world merely as sensibility to enjoyment and suffering; but 
as veritable force, as well, whose action must produce an 
effect either orderly or disorderly. 

The material universe is composed of forces, limiting in a 
measure personal force. All material forces are uniform, and 
necessary and correlative in their action, which is impressed 
upon them from without themselves. Man alone is self- 
active, and may clash with the other forces to his own pain, 
and he will often do so, until by knowledge of them he can 



4 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

harmonize with thera, and make them his own instrumen- 
tality to satisfy his aesthetic nature. We call this self-activity 
of man, which is in such vital union with his sensibility, the 
human will, and it makes the personal life of every one to 
learn this self-activity of his, in its differences from and rela- 
tions to all other forces, as he can only do perfectly by keeping 
in intellectual and sympathetic social relation with other 
aesthetic persons. In every individual case, he finds himself 
in these relations with fellow beings who have more or less 
of the knowledge he has not; and some of them have all the 
responsibility of his actions until he has begun to know him- 
self in discrimination from the material universe and its fixed 
relations and laws, which serve as a fulcrum for his own 
effective action among them. The one central unity whose 
aesthetic being and will are inclusive of himself and fellow 
beings as subject, on the one hand, and of the material uni- 
verse as object, on the other, is God. 

The absoluteness of man as a force, is no less certain be- 
cause he is finite and not omnipotent. God is the omnipotent 
maker of the material universe, but man is not absolutely 
made, he is a cause, that is, created to make, if we may credit 
the ancient prophet whose hymn of creation is the most won- 
derful expression of human genius, unless it be surpassed by 
the proem of St. John's Gospel, which is a correspondent 
poem, with God for its theme instead of man and nature. 

It was not till the embryo man had become, in one instance 
at least, the fully developed man, that this hymn of the Crea- 
tor was possible. God's word (revelation of himself) was 
in the world, embodied in the things made from the begin- 
ning, but until it was embodied in a man, free to will, it was 
truth in the form of law only (regulative), not yet in the 
completer form of \oyq (creative). In short, befoi-e St. John 
could sing that divine song, he must have seen God in a man, 
full of grace and truth, dwelling among men as a fellow man, 
and overflowing with a power at once sympathetic and 
causal. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 5 

God created man, male and female (that is, giving and receiv- 
ing equally), to be keepers of each other, and to educate each 
other. They may tempt and fail each other by presumption 
as Eve, and Avant of self-respect as Adam are represented to 
have done, at the beginning ; or may save and redeem one 
another as the cherished son of Mary historically did in a 
measure, and is doing forevermore, by inspiring all who know 
him to educate and redeem each other. 

In coming into relation with infant man to educate him, it 
is indispensable to appreciate his freedom of willing, which is 
a primeval fact, as much as his suseeptibiUty of suffering and 
enjoyment. The educator ought to embody God in a meas- 
ure, and treat the will of the child that is to be educated, on 
the same grand system of respecting individual freedom, as 
must needs flow from Infinite love. Let him clothe law in 
love, and instead of rousing fear of opposition, awaken the 
hope of becoming a beauty-creating and man-blessing power. 

This is the rationale of Froebel's method of government. 
He assumes that the child is — not to be made by education 
a sensibility, but — an infinite sensibility already, and to be 
vivified into individual consciousness thereof by the knowl- 
edge of nature to which you are to give him the clue; — not 
to be made by your government of him a power of creating 
effects, but already an immeasurable power of creating effects, 
(that is, causal) — of which you are to make him feel responsi- 
ble for, by helping him to get experimental knowledge of the 
laws that obtain in God's creation. 

For it is knowledge of laws that is the first thing attain- 
able — not knowledge of objects. A child's senses are the 
avenues of the knowledge of objects; his self-activity is the 
avenue of the knowledge of laws. He must have experi- 
mental knowledge of laws, before he can begin to have 
knowledge of objects, because his impulsive activity is 
the means of developing his organs of sense, by which he 
becomes capable of receiving impressions from objects of 
nature; and his own effective action produces the objects 



6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

outside of his organs which first command his interested 
attention, and rouse his powers of analysis, or by which his 
powers of analysis are roused through your educating inter- 
vention. 

It is the maternal nursing of body and mind which 
educates the free force within to produce transient effects, 
and finally objects, agreeable to the sensibility. Even before 
the will is educated to causality, it exerts itself, because ex- 
ertion is agreeable to human sensibility, but when left unedu- 
cated the will brings about effects that prove disagreeable 
ultimat(^y, if not immediately, to the aesthetic being, jjara- 
lyzing it more or less if the organization be feeble ; and per- 
verting it when it is strong ; in either case, whether crushing 
or exasperating it, producing selfishness, the germ of all evil. 

Thus evil begins in the social sphere, in the disorderly 
action or in the neglect of those who have in charge the 
£esthetic free force of the child, compelling it to revolve on 
its own axis in a wild endeavor to obtain the satisfaction of 
its assthetic nature, which it ought to obtain through the 
generous cherishing action of others' love, cai'rying it round 
the central sun in human companionship. The soul instinct- 
ively expects love, and to do so, and to give love intention- 
ally, is its salvation, its eternal life. There is no signature of 
immortality so sure as the immeasurable craving for love on 
the one hand, and the immeasurable impulse to love on the 
other hand, which characterizes man ; for the satisfaction of 
the craving is no greater joy than the satisfaction of loving. 

It is because death seems the cessation of relation with our 
kind that it is the king of terrors. When the disease or 
decay of the body curtails relations and makes us solitary, or 
incapable of enjoying relations, it is not dreaded but craved 
as relief. To whomever it seems the beginning of wider re- 
lation?, it is hailed as the revealing angel of God. Isolation 
is the horror of horrors. It was one of the primal intuitions 
that "it is not good for man to be alone." The nurse should 
remember this, and not leave the baby to feel lonely. Every 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 7 

mother and real nurse knows that when the baby begins to 
be uneasy and gives a cry of dissatisfaction, — to come near 
with a smile, to make one's presence felt by a caressing tone, 
or to take the infant in tiieir arms, will comfort it, bringing 
back the joyful sense of life — a word which signifies active 
relation," — and, in its highest sense, spiritual relation. Life, 
love, and liberty are identical words in their radical ele- 
ments. There is no love without liberty, nor fulness of life 
without love. 

The liberty of man, or his freedom to will, though it gives 
him the power to dash himself against antagonizing law, is 
the proof of infinite love to man in the Creator, — a love 
which must needs outmeasure all the evil he can do himself 
or others ; for evil provokes others' love for our victims, and 
is self-limited, by reason of the pain it brings, sooner or later, 
on him who does it, and the desire for Infinite love which it 
defines and stimulates. 

Man and nature are the contrasts which God connects and 
harmonizes. He presents nature to the mind as immutable 
law, but before the understanding is formed to apprehend 
law, He emparadises the child in the love of the mother. 
In short, the human race embodies love to the soul, before 
the universe, which embodies law, is yet apprehended. The 
heart that apprehends love, is older than the mind which 
apprehends law ; and it is because it is so, that man feels 
free. When man becomes mere law to man, instead of 
love, he feels he is enslaved. 

These are the most practical truths for the kindergartner. 
If these propositions are truths (and their evidence is the 
explanation they give of the mysteries of sin and redemption, 
both of which are unquestionable facts of human history, 
according to the testimony of all nations), then let her see to 
it, that in her relations with the children of her charge, she 
never so present the law, as to obscure the love, which it is 
the primal duty of men to embody and manifest to each 
other. 



8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

But, on the other hand, do not keep back the law; for 
the law, too, is one expression of the Creator's being. What 
is law? It is the order of the beauteous forms of things, 
which, when appreciated as God's order, becomes a stepping 
stone to his throne. For God proposes to share his throne 
with us, if we may trust another primeval intuition of the 
human mind, viz., that God commands man, male and female, 
that is, men in equal social relation, to " have dominion " over 
all creation, below man. 

The human being not only craves liberty and love in- 
stinctively, but law also; he "feels the weight of chance 
desires," and "longs for a repose that ever is the same." 
This is the rationale of Froebel's method in the occupations; 
he suggests the child's action, sometimes by interrogation 
merely, instead of directing it peremptorily. He asks the 
child, when he has done one thing, what is the opposite? 
which itself suggests the combination of opposites, that im- 
mediately produces a 'symmetrical effect. The child 
enjoys the symmetry all the more, if he feels as if he person- 
ally produced it. This is the secret of his love of repetition. 
He wants to see if by the same means he can again produce 
the same effect. He does the thing again and again, till he 
feels that he does it all of himself. He does not want you 
to help him even with your words (and you never should 
help him except with words). If a child acts from a sugges- 
tion, he feels free, — but if he produces the same effect, or a 
similar effect, without your suggestion, he has a still more 
self-respecting sense of power; and his will becomes more 
consciously free the more he chooses to put on the harness of 
order. 

The kindergartener will sometimes have a child put 
under her care whose will has been exasperated by arbitrary 
and capricious treatment, or who has been made to act 
against his inclination till he has reacted, out of pure contra- 
riness^ as we say. This contrariness proves that he has been 
outraged ; perhaps in some instances the effect has been pro- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 9 

duced by not feeding his mind with knowledge of law. 
The very violence of the evil may show that he is an excep- 
tionally fine child, with an enormous sense of power, that he 
does not know what to do with because the proper educa- 
tional influence has failed him. In other cases obstinacy may 
be a reaction against the vicious will of another, who, instead 
of ofiering him the bread of law, has presented to him the 
stone of his own stumbling. It is indispensable to give the 
child law, as well as love; but when you are doubtful 
whether you can genially suggest the law, — at all events ex- 
press the love ; and never substitute for the law your own 
will. The law which produces a good or beautiful efiect, is 
God's will ; your will has nothing creative about it ; its best 
effect is to stimulate the antagonism of the child's, when the 
latter is feeble, which it sometimes is by reason of physical 
mal-organization, or by having been crushed by overbearing 
management, or vitiated by selfish caprice. 

I may be told that if Froebel's education is wholly of a 
genial, coaxing character, it fails of being an image of the 
Divine Providence which is an alternation of attractions and 
antagonisms, speaking now in the music of nature, and now 
in thunders and lightnings, not only cherishing the heart 
with love, but stimulating the will with law ; and be warned 
not to enervate the character, by producing an aesthetic 
luxury of sentiment, by which the personal being shall stag- 
nate in the worst kind of selfishness — the passive kind. 
This objection might be pertinent, if the Kindergarten were 
to be protracted beyond the era to which Froebel limits it. 
Certainly the time comes, when the finite will should be 
antagonized, if need be, by the law of universal humanity. 
The purest, most loving, most disinterested will known to 
human history, recognized that there might be at least a 
wiser will, not to be doubted as still more loving; and said, 
"Not my will, but Thine be done," — "Into Thy hands I 
commend my spirit" (my free causal power). But let the 
kindergartener remember she is not infinitely wise and good, 



lO KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

and beware of enacting the sovereign judge. There is no 
doubt that an exchisively-cherishing tenderness should be 
the law of the nursery, with no antagonism whatever, be- 
cause at that age it is self-assertion which we wish to develop. 
We therefore act for the infant, having secured his acting 
with us by our genial encouragement. But this is no argu- 
ment for continuing to act for him, when he can act with 
consciousness of an individual life. "We must not prolong 
babyhood into the Kindergarten ; or, at least, we must begin 
to engraft personal consciousness upon it, by playing little 
antagonisms merely. And so, it is no argument against the 
play of Kindergarten that it does not mature men. Let the 
children play with comi^lete earnestness, and, as Plato says, 
" according to laws," and they will all the more likely seek 
laws when they come into wider relations. 

The development of the consciousness of man is serial. 
In the nursery we coax the child to exercise the various 
muscles by playfully duplicating their action ; we make him 
make believe walk, impressing his senses, as it were, with the 
whole operation as an object. The child first experiences the 
pleasure of movement, then desires to move for the sake of 
renewing this pleasure; then enjoys your helping him to do 
what he has not yet the bodily strength and skill to accom- 
plish ; and finally wills to take up his body and make his 
first independent step. This is the first crisis in the history 
of his individuality, and every mother knows it is the cheer 
of her magnetizing faith that enables him to pass through it. 
He then repeats the action intentionally, simply because he 
can; enjoying the exertion he makes all the more if, by your 
care, he has not begun to walk too soon, and experiences the 
pain of numerous falls, from want of guardian arms and sup- 
porting hands. Such pains disturb and haunt his fancy, and 
dishearten him. Courage and serene joy give strength and 
enterprise to activity. 

The nursery and kindergarten education are the prelimi- 
nary processes which foreshadow all the processes of the 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. II 

Divine Providence. Therefore, even in the nursery we play 
antagonizing processes. We heighten the child's enjoyment 
by making him conscious of isolation a moment, to restore? 
as it were, with a shout, the delightful sense of relation ; and 
the baby likes to have a handkerchief thrown over his head 
unexpectedly, and suddenly Avithdrawn again and again. So 
we sometimes pretend to 'let him fall, and just when he is 
about to cry with alarm, catch him again and kiss him. 

Froebel in his nursery plays has several of this nature ; and 
as children grow older they play antagonisms spontaneously, 
which are beneficial just so far as they elicit the conscious- 
ness of individual power ; but are harmful if, pi'oceeding too 
far, they show its limitations painfully ; and make the child 
feel himself a victim. 

In the Kindergarten season various sensibilities are mani- 
fest that have not shown themselves in the nursery, and 
which are premonitions of the destined dominion over mate- 
rial nature, which at first so much dominates the child, and 
would destroy his body if you did not intervene with your 
loving care. These are to be mothered in the kindergar- 
tener's heart till they become conscious desires, informing and 
directing his will, which is encouraged and strengthened — if 
it is never superseded by your will — until he shall begin to 
realize his personal responsibility. Then, as he took his body 
into his own keeping when he began to run alone, so now he 
will begin to take his character into his own hands to edu- 
cate, and he will do it all the more certainly and energeti- 
cally, if he feels you to be an all-helping, all-cherishing, all- 
inspiring friend, which you must needs be if you are open to 
feel and wise to know God's love to you, in making you his 
vicegerent to give glimpses, at least, of the immeasurable 
love of God, in giving the inexorable laws of nature, for the 
fulcrum of the power that He pours into his children, in the 
form of will; and which obeys Him just in propoi'tion as it 
keeps its freedom to alter and alter and alter, till there is no 
longer any evil to be conscious of, and men shall have got the 



12 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

dominion over nature, which consists in using it for all gen- 
erous purposes, in a universal mutual understanding with 
one another. To be in the progressive attainment of this 
high destiny, is the growing happiness of man ; a happiness 
which must ever have in it that element of victory^ which 
distinguishes the eternal life of Christ from the nirwana of 
Buddha. 



THE EDUCATION OF THE PRESENT. 

This is the name of the paper, Der Erziehung del Gegen- 
wart, which was started in Dresden immediately after the 
convention of the General Educational Union (Allgemeine 
Erziehung-Verein), in 1873. Its editors are the school direc- 
tors, G. Kellner and W. Schroeter, of Dresden, assisted by 
Prof. Fichte of Stuttgard, and the Baroness Marenholtz- 
Bulow, whose address, at present, is Luttischauer-Strasse 11, 
Etage II, Dresden. 

The leading ai'ticle of No. 1 is from the pen of the Bar- 
oness, from which we extract her summing up of the demands 
of the present time. 

"1. Abolition of all slaveries ; not only the emancipation 
of the lower classes, and of the majority of the female sex, 
but the freedom of all men from spiritual bondage, and the 
elevation of every individual. 

" 2. Political culture, in various degrees and within ascer- 
tained limits, for all, through national education ; making 
every one capable of fulfilling the duties of a citizen, which 
is the condition of the modern state, and in its turn will se- 
cute to all equality before the law. 

" 3. Union of the school for book-learning with the indus- 
trial school ; not merely for practical ends, but chiefly because 
manual industry strengthens the moral powers, and leads to 
the culture of the artistic faculties of the working classes ; so 
that handicraft and art may be conjoined. For the inevita- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 3 

ble progress of machinery, which can do all purely mechan- 
ical work, leaves the human hand free to produce, under the 
guidance of the inventive mind, all the artistic work to which 
only the mind is adequate. 

" 4. Consideration of the problems of practical life made 
imperative by the times, demands, on the other hand, a glance 
at the development of the race to the higher ideal good of 
life; and, in consequence, of the opposing tendencies that 
have been provoked, calls for a counterweight to the realism 
(or more accurately speaking, dry materialism,) of the age. 
In order to counterbalance the ever-increasing licentiousness 
of youth by the prevailing relaxation of moral principles and 
religion, new measures are to be sought for, awakening relig- 
ious sensibility and conscientiousness. For if these measures 
are not taken, a deeper and deeper sinking into mere sensu- 
ality will necessarily ensue, in consequence of the devotion 
paid to material life and its pleasures. 

"5. In order to put true human culture in the place of 
show-culture, it is necessary to know how to lay a firm, new 
foundation to individual experience and the facts of natural 
life, by which a degree, at least, of one's own thinking may 
be possible to each one, and empty phrases (jphrasenthum) 
may be opposed by something vital. A limitation and sim- 
plification — not an enlargement of book learning for the peo- 
ple's schools, are means too little understood and practised as 
yet. This requisition is imperative for all grades of society. 

" 6. The higher and loftier culture of the female sex, esjDC- 
cially of those devoted to educational vocations, is one of the 
chief requisites, in order that good and intelligent mothers 
may lay the only sure foundation for the improvement of 
mankind, 

"7. Finally, educational provision must be made for 
improving bodily health on every side, for the seeds of dis- 
ease are sown broadcast in the earlier as well as later years, 
by unnatural, unphysiological modes of life. To gain the 
end of both bodily and spiritual health, bodily and spiritual 



14 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

activities must be cultivated in all classes, so that every one 
of the powers of the body and mind shall be exercised with- 
out allowing any circumstances whatever to hinder the union 
of both activities, one alone may not suffice. ' Der Erzieliung 
des Gegenwart'' seeks to set in operation means that shall 
bring about this reform, for which preceding systems have 
not provided. A few words only may be appropriate here 
on the principle means for accomplishing these ends. 

"All development and unfolding require activity corre- 
sponding with the organism of natural motion, which is 
expressed in circulation and change of material. Activity, 
which touches spiritual development, is the exercise of an 
analogous law. Change of material finds its analogy in the 
spiritual world, in the opposing elements of taking and giving. 
The impressions of the outer world, taken in by the senses, 
are worked into representations in the inner world, in order 
to be given out again through human activity and its works. 
In this exchange of outer and inner activity consists the 
building up of man, and it corresponds to the chemical change 
of material in nature. The law which lies at the root of the 
inevitable facts going out from the self, may be called the law 
of all facts. Froebel uses it for the guidance of childish activ- 
ity, in order to bring this activity up to the point of represen- 
tation and discovery, like the production of animal instincts, 
which also are founded upon law. 

" That the expected result is thereby attained proves the 
justness of the principle, which receives its whole significance, 
first through practical opei-ations, whether Froebel expresses 
his law by the formula 'the connection of opposites,' or 
otherwise. As by contrasts (opposites) in every movement, 
that action and reaction are designated; so every thesis 
demands its antithesis, whereby arises synthesis. 

"The principle laid down by Froebel, as the basis of his 
method of education, receives a wider significance by his 
application of it, because it effects the steady connection of 
spiritual and bodily activity, and, even in childhood, brings 
these up to the point of free creativeness. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 5 

"The organisms of nature are formed after the general law 
determining each ; so the child must form itself out of his 
own being, but that is only possible when his action becomes 
creative, and his works mirror to himself his own individu- 
ality, as works of art are the reflex image of the artist. 

" Thus one of the chief demands of our times is fulfilled ; 
which will ennoble every work, and excite to an activity 
worthy of man, while hand and heart work together, bodily 
and spiritual effort and use are united ; the work proceeds 
morally, and is a means of education which is not to be 
gained by mere mechanical activity. 

" Only through the new beginning which is made possible 
by Froebel's system of education, is the building up of soci- 
ety, according to present needs and conditions, to be attained. 
Only through preparation in earliest childhood on all sides, 
will it be possible that the schools which follow the Kinder- 
garten, and the means of education that follow schools, shall 
give the results of well-founded principles and cultivated 
powers in both intellectual and industrial pursuits. 

" For in this manner the elements of knowinor and doinsr 
become the property of all, and means and opportunity are 
offered for the endowment of all, by which still higher knowl- 
edge and doing, may be secured for further development. " 



mOEBEL AND PESTALOZZI. 

BY MKS. M. H. KKIEGE. 

Friedrich Froebel has been called a pupil of Pestalozzi, 
and, in a limited sense, justly so ; for when he was a young 
man, he went to Pestalozzi, as did many others who had 
heai'd of his new way of instructing, and was very warm in 
praise of him and his method. No doubt he received many 
incitements from him, and confirmation of certain reflections 



1 6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

of his own ; for Froebel had already thought deeply on the 
subject of education, had even taught and experimented. * 
The originality of his mind, however, led him into an inde- 
pendent road ; and we might as well call Raphael a pupil 
of Perugino, as Froebel a pupil of Pestalozzi. Froebel, him- 
self, used to say, " The tree has been my teacher ; " and often 
'when studying some branch of natural science at the uni- 
versity, he would leave the lecture room, in displeasure, at 
the mode in which the professor was presenting the subject, 
and go to the fields to study flowers and minerals, for hours, 
by himself. But this does not detract from Pestalozzi's merit. 
Undoubtedly, he was a genius, as well as Froebel. Pesta- 
lozzi had a warm heart for the poor and needy, who were 
growing up, without proper instruction ; and, on the other 
hand, stimulated by Rousseau, he recognized how far the cur- 
rent scholarly culture was removed from nature; and how 
little adapted to the wants of the common people, was that 
which the privileged classes were receiving, even if it had 
been attainable. He was aware that the children of the peo- 
ple received their instruction, not by means of books, but 
chiefly by using their five senses ; and to meet their wants 
he devised means, through which they might be benefitted 
by what the senses could teach ; he taught them to observe, 
and express in language what they had observed. His whole 
method grew out of the necessities of the case. 

Pestalozzi also had the merit of pointing out the impor- 
tance of earliest education, the mighty influence mothers 
have in education. In his book for mothers, " How Gertrude 
Teaches her Children," he gave "Hints how mothers may make 
their children observe and speak." Before his time, the part 
the female sex had taken in education had been underrated 
— hardly recognized ; now, they were first called upon to aid 



* In the year 1805, Froebel went to Tverdun for the first time, on a short visit to 
Pestalozzi. In the year 1808, he went the second time from Frankfort-on-the-Main, 
taking with Mm two pupils of his own, and stayed several months. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSE,NGER. 1 7 

in the great wort^ and to do with self-consciousness and in- 
telligent aim. what they had done, as it were, instinctively 
— unnoticed. 

Froebel fully agreed with Pestalozzi in all this. He is 
even more pathetic in his appeals to the whole female sex, 
mothers included, to fit theinselves for this high office. His 
ideals of family life, of the brotherhood of the whole human 
family, and of the duties it imposes on all, arc expressed in 
his writings, and were impressed on all his pupils. He also 
devised means for the child's education at an earlier period 
than Pestalozzi did, for Froebel began in its very babyhood. 
(Witness the Mutter and Kose songs, and the notes to each 
song.) Froebel had a deeper philosophic mind than Pesta- 
lozzi. An ardent student of nature and her laws in all de- 
partments of science, he was a student of human nature in 
particular, as it is developed in language and history ; and 
the peculiar vivid recollections of his own childhood, his ob- 
servation of other children, and sympathetic knowledge of 
their feelings and cravings, made it easy for him to interpret 
the manifestations of every individual development. 

Locke had attempted to solve this problem in his work on 
the human understanding by viewing children in the light of 
their future manhood, while he did not possess the clew to 
the nature and characteristics of childhood as Froebel had it. 
Thus wJiile psychology had hitherto only treated of mature 
minds, we may say of Froebel, that he gave us a psychology 
of childhood. Thus he recognized what Pestalozzi had over- 
looked, viz., that in every healthy child, there is a strong pri- 
mal instinct to do, to act, to produce ; in short, that as human 
beings are the image of their Creator in a finite degree, they 
also possess the impulse and faculty to create, in their finite 
sphere, and that this is expressed in works of convenience 
and beauty, for art also is manifested even in early childhood. 

Pestalozzi recognized the necessity of manual labor, es- 
pecially for the children of the poor, and supplied mechanical 
work, unconnected with thought : while Froebel found means 



1 8 KINDE.RGARTEN MESSENGER. 

to unite work and thought, by giving witl» the material, the 
law which is universal, and underlies all creation (divine as 
well as human), presenting it, at the same time, in a form so 
simple and tangible, that the smallest child in the Kindergar- 
ten can act upon it, without being aware as yet of its uni- 
versality and import, which is, at a later period, revealed to 
tim. 

Pestalozzi often said, " I have found the alphabet of know- 
ing, but there ought to be an alphabet of doing." This Fro- 
ebel has found. As it is not enough to know right from 
wrong, in words, but also to do what is right, and thereby 
train the will ; so, for the uses of life, our knowledge should 
be transformed into actions, or, as Froebel has it, " Children 
should learn by doing," Hence the great importance Froe- 
bel attaches to childish play, which is the child's first action ; 
and in utilizing this activity, this play impulse, he aids the 
child to gain a fundamental knowledge of all things, which 
serves as basis to his future acquirements. Thus we see that 
Froebel starts from a different and more central, point than 
Pestalozzi, and his scope is more complete and comprehen- 
sive. 

Farther, Pestalozzi demands that the child should make 
his first observations on his own body, while Froebel demands 
that he should do it hy means of his own body; and experi- 
ence shows that, as an object of real study, the outer world 
is hy far more interesting to the child, in early age, than his 
own body. In a preliminary way, he has provided for the 
child's general knowledge of his body, and its functions, in 
the " Mutter-Kose Lieder," in which he sho-ws the baby, learn- 
ing in sweet prattle about its tiny hands and feet, eyes, nose, 
and mouth, as he had observed mothers do; but as an object 
for serious study, he would defer it to a later period. 

In schools whei-e Pestalozzi's system has been introduced, 
unmodified by Froebel, and carried out without Pestalozzi's 
spirit of kindness and love to the children, or without under- 
standing of their nature, there is danger that it may become 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 9 

just as dry, lifeless, and unprofitable as any learning by rote; 
that language be cultivated in advance of ideas ; that it may 
become an unconnected desultory teaching of heterogeneous 
and far-fetched things ; and that children may grow proud 
and self-important, with an idea that they know so much, and 
can use such hard words ; while doing as Froebel teaches it, 
with patient trying, keeps away all unhealthy excitement, 
and tends to humility. 

Since, therefore, Froebel's system embodies all that is sound 
and excellent in Pestalozzl's ideas, with deeper and more 
comprehensive ones of his own, it is very well justified that 
patriots and scholars like Professor von Fichte, von Leonhar- 
di, and others, demand that it should be made the basis of 
National Education in Germany, and that other countries 
also recognize its excellence, and successful beginnings are 
made to introduce it. The Baroness Marenholtz-Bulow, in 
a pamphlet entitled " The Kindergarten, the Child's first 
. Workshop," characterizes the i-elation Froebel bears to Festa- 
lozzi, in the following words : 

" Froebel, with his first pupils, sought Pestalozzi at Yver- 
dun, and became highly enthusiastic about him. The studies 
he made there during several months, but especially the per- 
sonal intercourse with this noble man and great genius, made 
a lasting impression on him. Pestalozzi's mode of instruc- 
tion, his whole system of object teaching served him to com- 
plete his occupation material for early childhood. 

"But it is erroneous to suppose that Froebel's system pro- 
ceeded out and was a continuation of Pestalozzi's; on the 
contrary, it is Froebel who furnishes the right beginning, the 
true basis for Pestalozzi's mode of instruction. Froebel has, 
in fact, laid a new basis for the whole realm of education^ 
which is in harmony with Pestalozzi's mode of instruction^ 
in which he recognizes 5e{/"-activity as the first educational 
princijile. To make this of eflect, Froebel has added to ob- 
servation, doing, in order to attain the ability to do, alongside 
with knowinsc. Instead of the mere mechanical and routine 



20 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

work introduced in Pestalozzi's school, Froebel demands ar- 
tistic formation and intellectual productive activity, according 
to his fundamental principle, which is — to recognize and 
treat man as a creative being from the very beginning of life. 

"These two educational geniuses of the century comple- 
ment each other, but each has his peculiar starting point, his 
separate region of reformatory activity. 

" Froebel's idea is entirely independent of Pestalozzi's sys- 
tem, originating in himself, a product of his own peculiar 
views of the world (Weltanschauung)." 



AFTER KINDERGAETEN, WHAT? 

Continued from the January number, in which we gave hints for teaching children 
the alphabet, loith its original sounds, by writing on the slate words which have 
no other sounds attached to the letters in them. 

Thus far they have gone by laws. 

The great philologist who suggested to me the idea of pick- 
ing out the phonographic part of English, to present to chil- 
dren at first, gave me a hint of what was to be done next, in 
the answer he made to my question "How did you learn to 
write English so perfectly, in so short a time ? " He replied, 
" The anomalies are so funny." 

Children having learnt to write words, according to the 
law of similarity, we bring the law of contrast to stimulate 
the memory of exceptions to the phonographic law. It is 
possible to make into groups all the anomalies ; the greater 
the anomaly, the smaller the group. For instance, one set of 
anomalies consists of what are called silent letters. We tell 
the children, for instance, " Write the word phthisic." They 
will write tisic, and we will tell them that in all books, it is 
written phthisic. This will surprise them so much that they 
will never forget it ; for it is the only word of the kind found 



KINDERGARTEN- MESSENGER. 21 

in English. The most practical way to proceed, at this stage 
is to give to the children some child's book, and make the 
groups, as the anomalous words occur in their reading. 

Let the child, for instance, take Monroe's First Reader. 
He will find that he can read all the sentences with the ex- 
ception of one or two words in each page. The first excepted 
word is see. Perhaps he will call it say-ay ; but you will say 
'' That is see : whenever you see two ehs together, they al- 
ways sound like ih (pronounce it long as in marine, machine). 
On the third page, he will come to the word tree^ and here it 
will be well to let him write on his slate a column of words, 
see, tree, free, flee, glee, seed, weed, need, and then let him 
read the column of words in his primer, the group of words 
that are written according to this anomaly. The next anom- 
aly is he. You can say " Sometimes this sound is rej^resented 
by one e ; " and dictate for writing, he, she, me, we ; but 
do not include the, as its final letter is always short, and so 
sounds eh. 

The next anomaly he will meet will be eat ; and this intro- 
duces him to another group, eat, meat, seat, wheat, beat, feat, 
heat, neat, peat, reach, peach, teach, &c. (See the column.) 

On the tenth page, will come the anomaly of the silent e 
final, in little and love, which will introduce to other groups 
of anomalies. Love belongs to a small group, in which is 
dove, honey, mother, brother, the o sounding like the first 
sound of up. The word like will have the dij)hthong written 
by %h (not pronounced long, for that would make it as in ma- 
chine), but as the dii^hthong, ah-ee. 

In this empirical way all the anomalies will be mastered soon. 
The groups of anomalies should be read over and copied 
on separate pieces of paper, and thus words spelt alike will 
be associated in the memory. 

We have taken Munroe's First Reader for our guide in the 
order of the groups which make the third part Of our primer, 
for we would like to help spread this set of Readers in the 
schools, because the author has made such good sentences 



22 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

for teaching childi'en to read naturally and expressively. It 
is the natural talk of children, and gives images that excite 
interest and suggest the tone and accent and emphasis. 

But though this series is the best to follow our primer, any 
book that interests the children will do. We have frequently 
taught children to read in Mother Goose. We taught one 
child to read in the Story without an End. The mother of 
Wesley taught all her children to read, by the word method, 
in the book of Genesis. 

To learn by our primer has the advantage of giving a per- 
fect orthography. Of course, there will be no mistake in the 
phonographic words, and the anomalous words direct atten- 
tion to the letters that seem grotesquely out of place, so that 
they are remembered, as my Hungarian friend said, "because 
they are so funny" in the eyes of the children. Things are 
remembered best which excite emotions. It is therefore a 
good plan to pause on words which have interesting mean- 
ings, and have conversation about their significance, in the 
way the "Record of a School" shows that Mr. Alcott used 
to do. The figurative meanings of words are very interest- 
ing to children, and cultivate their moral and aesthetic powers. 



LETTER FROM A PROEBEL KINDERSARTEN. 

Dear Aunt Lizzie : When I write to you about the Kin- 
dergavten, I copy from my Journal, in which I write every 
afternoon, part of the time that Ellen and I spend with papa. 
But there is so much more than I can put into my letter, that 
papa has advised me to skip along from Wednesday to Wed- 
nesday, and tell you what we do with the first Gift. I have 
told you of two lessons on the colored balls, which Cousin 
Gretchen gave us, just before we began our ball plays, which 
we always have on Wednesday; and now I will tell you the 
third lesson that she gave us. She brought in a rather larger 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 23 

ball than any we had in our boxes ; and it was crocheted dif- 
ferently. Imagine the ball divided by six great circles, cross- 
ing each other at one point, or rather at two points, just as 
the meridian lines cross each other at the poles of the ter- 
restrial globe ; and then the spaces between worked with six 
colors of worsted, — red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. 
These can be worked on the ball twice. Cousin Gretchen 
let us each take this ball, one after another, and say one thing 
about it, — whatever came into our heads. There was a 
string at the place where the lines crossed, and when we had 
all looked at it, she took hold of this string, and whirled it 
round, just as fast as she could; and asked us what color it 
seemed to be, while she was whirling it. It certainly did not 
seem to be any one of the six colors : we could hardly see it 
at all, it went so fast, and it seemed whitish. She said if she 
could whirl it fast enough, it would look quite white. Every 
one of us wanted to try to make it look quite white, and she 
let each of us try; but it looked grey when the smaller chil- 
dren whirled it, because they were not strong enough to 
whirl it very fast. Harry asked her what made it look dif- 
ferent, when it was whirling, and when it was still ; and she 
asked us all to think of some reason. I said it was the mo- 
tion ; and she asked the rest what they thought ; and they 
all said just as I did, it was the motion ; but Cousin Gretchen 
said the little children were too young to think the reason 
for the difference. However, she would show them that the 
motion was not the reason all by itself. So she distributed 
the six balls of the different colors, with strings to them all, 
and asked the children to whirl them, and see if it altered 
the color; and we found it did not. The red ball looked red, 
both when it was whirling and when it was still ; and all the 
rest kept their color. It was only when that ball was whirled 
that had all the colors on it, that whirling made it seem 
white. 

Cousin Gretchen then let us play with the balls awhile, 
tossing them, sometimes from one to the other, as we stood 
in two lines opposite ; and sometimes against the wall, catch- 
ing it again ; and sometimes down on the floor, catching it 
when it bounded up. We could never catch it, without we 
made it go in a perfectly straight line to the floor or to the 
wall. If we struck it slantways, it would go clear off the 
other way. Cousin Gretchen made Ellen and me stand op- 
posite, and then one of us threw the ball so that it would 



24 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

strike the wall, half-way between us ; and then when I threw 
it, it would bound into Ellen's hands, and when Ellen threw 
it, it would bound into my hands. She told us to tell papa, 
when we went to him in the afternoon, what we had been 
doing, and papa would teach us something about this, which 
the little children were too young to learn; and that he 
would tell us, too, how it was that the particolored ball 
looked white when it was whirled. And papa did give us 
a beautiful lesson in Mechanics and in Optics ; which are the 
names of the science of motions, and the science of seeing. 
And Cousin Ellen, who writes papa's lessons in her Journal, 
gave a very interesting account of it. But Cousin Gretchen 
said the little children were quite satisfied to know the facts; 
and she was quite satisfied to have them know them. After 
we had done playing ball in the Kindergarten, that day, we 
eat our luncheons, which were sjDread out on the table, our 
napkins being our table cloths ; and we have to be very care- 
ful lest some of the crumbs should get off on the tables, or 
on the floor. Cousin Gretchen is very particular, too, how 
we behave when we are eating. We talk, and exchange the 
things we have, as we please; but she wants us to be polite, 
as well as kind. She says kindness deserves to wear the 
beautiful dress of politeness ; but if we are only polite, and 
not kind, that is hypocritical. We have such a good time, 
that it makes us good-natured, and kind, and polite, without 
much trying; and we never think about the rules, except 
when some one of the children is cross. And Cousin Gretch- 
en says, that when a little child is cross, it is generally be- 
cause he is not well, and we ought to think of that, and so 
be kinder and more patient with him. After luncheon, we 
folded up all our napkins, carefully keeping in all the crumbs 
and the cores of the apples; and then Cousin Gretchen let 
Ellen take them in a large basket, and go and shake them 
out of the door. 

Then we had our sewing, and when any of the children 
got tired, she began to teach the words of a new song to 
them, and bye and bye, we put away our work, and learnt 
how to sing it ; and then we sang other songs that we knew 
before, and Cousin Gretchen let each one of us go out, and 
put on our things, and come in ; and then we became a purl- 
ing river, and went out, flowing all round the garden, before 
we went home, for it was a lovely day. 

Your affectionate jf 



f 



VOL. ir. 



MARCH, 1874. 



No. 3. 




A PERIODICAL OF 2i PAGES. 




milerjgaiilm ^^sjj^nflf , 



EDITED BY 



ELIZABETH P. PEABODY. 



TEEMS ONE DOLLAE PEE TEAE, IN ADVANCE, 

Payable to the Editor, 19 FoUen Street, Cambridge, Mass. 

Subscribers for 1874 can liave the numbers for 1873 at half price — 
fifty cents — as long as tlie edition holds out. These numbers contain 
important matter that will not be repeated. 

TEEMS OP ADVEETISEMENT. 

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Yearly advertisements as by agreement. 

Advertisements for the inside of the covers are solicited, especially 
from publishers, manufacturers of Kindergarten materials, and teachers 
of any branches of knowledge 



AMONG THE FLOWERS. 



Miss Youmans's First Book of Botany $1.00 

Miss Youmans's Second Book of Botany 1.50 

The cliaracteristic features of Miss Youmans's plan may be sunmied up as fol- 
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Second. It provides for a systematic training in the art of observation. 
Third. This plan first sujiplies the long-recugnized deficiency of object-teaching, 
. by reducing it to a method, and connecting it with an established branch of 

school study. 
FouKTH. The subject may be p^ursued by young children in the family ; and any 

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Fifth. The method is entirely practical. 

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Sample copies of the above books, for examination, will be mailed, postpaid, to 
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D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, 

549 and 551 Broadw^ay, New York. 



H. N. McKINNEY & CO., 

Publishers and Booksellers 

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Will begin, in February, a series of pamphlets, at 25 cents each. 

Lectures oo The Nurserf and Tlie Kiiiderprlen, 

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These Lectures, which were addressed to the Normal Class in training by Miss 
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ittd^tpttett ^mn^tx. 



Vol. II.— march, 1874. — No. 3. 



THE EDUGATIOH OP MAN. 

BY FBIBDEICH FROEBBL. 

[Continued from the February Number.] 

Whatever is interior (being, mind, the action of God in 
men and things), is made known by exterior manifestations. 
But because education and instruction have to do necessarily 
with the exterior manifestations of men and things, and be- 
cause science invokes them as testimonies, throiigh which we 
draw inferences from the interior to the exterior, it does not 
follow that education and instruction may draw conclusions 
from the interior to the exterior, merely. On the contrary, 
we must judge the interior by the exterior, and the exterior 
by the interior, simultaneously. For instance : because na- 
ture is multiple, it is not necessary to infer a plurality of its 
principle, a plurality of God : and because God, its principle, 
is one, we need not deny that nature is a chain of numerous 
beings, but from these two data, so opposite to each other, 
we should draw an opposite conclusion ; viz., that God being- 
one in himself, nature, of which He is the source, is eternally 
multiple ; and from this multiplicity (what we call the vari- 
ety of nature), we conclude the unity of God. Negation of 
this truth is the source of the inutility of so many efforts, of 
so many mistakes in education and life. Judgments made 
upon the interior nature of a child, by its exterior manifesta- 
tions merely, are the cause of so many failed educations, so 
many misunderstandings between parents and children, so 
many senseless dreams, so many deceived hopes. 



2 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

Let parents, educators, and instructors, recognize this truth, 
become familiar with it, search it out into its least details, 
and it will bring them repose and certainly in the accomplish- 
ment of their duties. Let them realize fully, that the child 
who appears good externally, is not always good at the bot- 
tom ; that often, in all its external conduct, it is fortified 
neither by love of others, nor by knowledge, nor by the love 
of good ; while the child who appears rude, violent, wilful, 
whose exterior announces nothing less than goodness, has, 
nevertheless, a veritable inclination for everything which is 
excellent, a will for the good, only it is not yet developed 
and manifested. It is for this reason that all education, all 
instruction, must be in the beginning indulgent, flexible, 
supple ; limiting itself to protect and watch, without fixed 
system and part taken {parti pris), for the divine action in 
man is good; it cannot be otherwise. This essential con- 
dition of education, which flows from the very nature of its 
principle, causes that man, while yet young, and unconscious 
as a simple product of nature, does not hesitate to demand 
what is truly good for himself, under the form which agrees 
best with its aptitudes and forces. The young gosling, hard- 
ly out of the eggt throws itself upon the pond, and plunges 
into the water, while the chicken scratches the earth, to seek 
its nourishment, and the little swallow finds its food flying 
in the air, and hardly alighting upon the earth. It is in vain 
to raise objections against this truth and its application in 
education. It is in vain to contest and combat it; it will 
justify itself none the less, it will appear no less radiant with 
light and splendor in the eyes of the generation which shall 
have faith and confidence in it. 

We give to young plants and animals the space and time 
that their development requires, being persuaded that they 
cannot grow and develop themselves, except according to 
certain laws peculiar to each species. It is because of the 
repose we give them, the care we take to keep away every 
hurtful influence, that we see them gi'ow and develop them- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 3 

selves. We all know this, and yet the infant man is always 
regarded by us as soft wax or clay to which we can give im- 
print according to our fancy ! 

Oh, you who haunt our gardens, fields, meadows, woods, 
why do you not open the eyes of your understanding? why 
do you not listen to what nature teaches you in her mute 
language? These plants that you call weeds, have only 
grown in bad conditions, trampled on, sufibcated, so that you 
cannot divine what they could have become. If you had 
met them dilating, extending, expanding freely, in the fields, 
or cultivated in a garden border, you would have seen them 
spread before your eyes their rich, luxuriant nature, and 
abundance of life difilised in all their parts. Thus is it with 
the children whom you have compressed by shutting them 
up in conditions evidently opposed to their nature; they 
languish around you, overborne with moral and physical in- 
firmities, when they also might have become completely de- 
veloped beings and have expanded in the garden of life. 

All conventional education and instruction is contrary to 
what the action of God in men requires ; and it must neces- 
sarily destroy, or at least, put a drag upon {enrayer) the 
progress of man, if we consider him in his integral, healthy 
origin. Let nature be our guide here. The vine should be 
pruned, But the pruning of the vine does not cause it to bear 
fruit. Even if the pruner is animated by the best intentions, 
unless he take the precautions which its special nature de- 
mands, he will destroy or endanger the germ of its fertility. 

We may remark, in passing, that men almost always pur- 
sue the right course with respect to the inferior creatures, the 
course that leads directly to the end. Why do they not do 
the same with respect to the infant man, since the force that 
works in him flows from the same source and is governed by 
the same laws ? But they do not, and hence we cannot too 
much insist, in the interest of man, upon the observation and 
study of nature. 

True education, that of which we have determined the end, 



4 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

must be considered in its two-fold object. It contains a clear, 
vivifying idea, fundamentally true, based upon itself; and 
therefore, it requii*es that the mode of education be tolerant, 
variable, supple, and flexible ; for the vivifying thought, eter- 
nal and divine, demands spontaneity and free will for the 
man, created for liberty, in the image of God. 

But the model of education, recognized and accepted be- 
forehand, this ideal of education, however perfect it may be, 
ought not to be followed, in all cases, except in its essence 
and aspirations ; never in just such a form as it can be pre- 
sented to educators. Unless we avoid splitting on this last 
rock we shall lose the ideal, which is to aid man to elevate 
and enoble humanity. Let the intellectual idqal serve only 
as guide ; and let the choice of the manifestation, the extei'ior 
mode, the form of education, be left to the intelligence of 
the educator. 

\_To be continued.'] 



GLIMPSES OF PSYCHOLOaY.-NO. 3. 

We have been asked by one of the students of Froebel's 
art and science, what books we should recommend to help 
her to a fuller knowledge of the subjects on which we gave 
a few hints in our first and second paper of " Glimpses." 

In reply, we would first say, that it is a needed preparation 
for any study of books on intellectual and moral philosophy, 
to look back on our own moral history and mental experience, 
and ask ourselves what was the process of our moral growth, 
and the circumstances of the formation of our opinions ; that 
is, what action of our relatives, guardians, and companions, 
had the best — and what the worst — practical effects upon 
our characters ; what aided and what hindered us ? Every 
fault in our characters has its history ; having generally orig- 
inated in the action of others upon us; sometimes their 
intentional action, which may have been merely mistaken, or 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 5 

may have been wilfully selfish and malignant ; and some- 
times an influence unconsciously exerted. On the other 
hand, much of our life that has blest ourselves and others, 
can be referred to spontaneous manifestations of others, 
having no special reference to ourselves; generous senti- 
ments uttered in felicitous words, generous acts recorded 
in history, or done in the privacy of domestic life ; great 
truths bodied forth in imaginative poetry, over which our 
young hearts mused till the fire burned. 

This empirical knowledge of the great nature which we 
share, is a living nucleus that will give vital meaning to any 
true words with which scientific treatises on the mind are 
written ; and a power to j udge whether the writer is talking 
about facts .of life, or mere abstractions, out of which have 
died all spiritual substance, leaving only " a heap of empty 
boxes." In no department of study are we more liable to 
take words for things than in this. Abstraction is the source 
of all the false philosophy and theology which has distracted 
the world. Generalizations are of no aid — but a delusion 
and a snare — unless the mental and moral phenomena, from 
which they are derived, have been the writer's experiences, 
personal or sympathetic^ Such experiences are as substantial 
as material things, to say the least ; and even they do not dc 
justice to the whole truth, which is — if we may so express 
it — the vital experience of God. Hence is the Living 
Word to which human abstractions can never do justice ; 
being, indeed, but the refuse of thought " a weight to be laid 
aside" and forgotten, like a work done, as we stretch forward 
to the prize of truth, which is our " high calling." 

In Book II, chapter vii, of CampheWs Philosophy of Rhet- 
oric, there is a section headed, " Why is it that nonsense so 
often escapes being detected, both by the writer and reader ? " 
It explains with great perspicuity, the uses and abuses of 
our faculty of abstraction, which is not a spiritual, but mere- 
ly an intellectual faculty. I would commend this essay (and 
indeed, for several reasons, the whole book,) to a student of 



6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

intellectual philosophy. A great deal may be learned upon 
this subject, also, from an Essay on Language, printed a 
second time with some other papers, by Phillips & Sampson, 
Boston, in 1857, and probably still to be found in old book- 
stores. 

On the subject of my second paper of "Glimpses" the 
same author has written two books, one published by D. 
Appleton, in New York, in 1864, " The Freedom of the Mind 
in willing ; or every Being that wills, a Creative first Cause ; " 
and in 1869, Lee & Shepard, Boston, published, as supplement, 
" Two letters on Causation, and freedom in willing, addressed 
to John Stuart Mill, with an Appendix on the Existence of 
Matter, and our Notions of Infinite Space." * 



{From a letter dated St. Louis, December, 1873.] 

Woman ripens to her dignity only through children's 
intercourse with her. Children's salvation through education, 
can only come throngh good and chastened mothers. Moth- 
ers, therefore, must be educated for the high functions they 
are to fulfil. Soon may the time come when in nursery and 
school, the young girls shall join and animate and lead the 
children's plays and occupations. 

Nervousness and anxiety would, in many cases, not over- 
come young mothers were they used to the intercourse with 
children; had they seen their young life in all its aspects and 
incidents. Experience is bought too late, so much too dearly ! 



* In tbe first of these last two books, Mr. Hazard has made an examination of 
Edwards on the Will; and the only satisfactory reply to his argument for Necessity 
ever made. Very early in life, the task of answering Edwards was given him, by 
the late William E. Ohanning, D. D., who read his first edition of " Language," and 
was so much struck with the metaphysical genius displayed in it that he sought out 
the anonymous author on purpose to make this suggestion. He found him a clerk in 
his father's great manufactory, to whose business he afterwards succeeded, and he 
was engaged in it until he was an old man. All his books are a proof that business 
may be as good a disciplinarian of the higher intellect as scholastic education, to 
say the least. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 7 

Children have nn unerring instinct which tells them wheth- 
er a mother, teacher, friend, father, has been familiar with 
children, or not, before. They feel on common ground, on 
intimate terms, in cosy confidence with the guide who has 
known and loved children always. 

HENEIETTA NOA. 



THE HOME. 



[A paper read by Mks. Horace Mann to the New-England Woman's Club in 
answer to the questions, What can Home do for the Children? and, What can the 
Children do for the Home?] 

Two people are set apart in every home to make a new 
world and direct the issues of it. Upon what does the char- 
acter and influence of these homes depend? Is it only to 
make a world for their own selfish enjoyments? Does not 
the fact of such an institution, old as the known history of 
the human race, point to specific duties in it ? Does not the 
act of laying the foundation for this possible heaven upon 
earth involve a responsibility to all that come into it? How 
many homes fulfil the trust ? How many may be called man- 
ufactories of men and women in the highest sense of nurture ? 
How many in which every thing else is made secondary to 
this primal object? Is it not the rule that children are con- 
stantly sacrificed and postponed to the other interests of life, 
to the pleasure and convenience of the parents, or even to 
their own rational pursuits of study and self-culture ? Is it 
not the prevalent feeling that children are mere debtors to 
their parents, instead of being regarded as creditors to whom 
are due all that the parents are, and all that they can com- 
mand ? And before the age when children make demands 
that have to be met, and which at any age are set too much 
aside, is not the feeling very general that there is time enough, 
and that if they are only kept bodily comfortable and passa- 
bly happy, they can be put off? Is it usual for parents to 
realize that the very first years are the most important of all 



8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

the years in which children are under tutelage, that the first 
impressions of moral relations are the most lasting? And is 
it not these very first years that are left to the guidance of 
ignorant attendants, a guidance not modified even by love '? 

Children do not come into the world voluntarily ; they are 
ushered into this scene of things under varieties of conditions, 
some of which involve all the suffering of which humanity is 
capable, and, at any rate, they may be called the victims of 
their progenitors. The slave mother, in Cuba, frequently 
kills her children soon after their birth, because she knows 
what is the sad fate they are born to, and that she shall 
have no power to stand between them and that fate. And 
I have heard free mothers, who have hope to aid them, which 
is denied the slave — aye, and mothers in our ve'ry midst, 
express the profoundest compassion for their children, es- 
pecially for their daughters, for being born to an inherit- 
ance from which they have suffered much themselves. I 
think there can be but one answer to my questions, taking 
society on the average, in spite of the fact that some chil- 
dren are ruinously indulged. It is easier to indulge them 
than to educate them. The latter involves more sacrifices 
of time and attention and preparation, than the average selfish- 
ness and indolence of mankind are ready to make. Many 
parents will work hard to lay up money for the material 
prosperity of their children, thus feeding their own pride, who 
will not devote any portion of their time to their careful 
training, to fit them for life and happiness. 

That the home can do everything that is desirable for 
young children, if the right spirit pervades it, who can doubt 
who believes in God, and realizes that he has left it for parents 
to do ? He does not interfere, even when the saddest possible 
consequences ensue from parental neglect. But as I do not 
believe any evil is infinite, I would not be supposed to forget 
that there is a self-recuperative power in spirit, which will 
save all humanity at last for the immortal life that is its man- 
ifest destiny. It is only this world that is virtually in the 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 



9 



hands of the human race, and we know that neglect of its 
duties often makes it a heritage of woe to man, no matter 
whether the neglect is voluntary or the fruit of ignorance- 
Father and mother are alike bound to be the educators of 
their children. If their respective and joint action had not 
been needed, God could have made other conditions of parent- 
age. The proportions of the duty are not the same, the 
larger proportion necessarily, at any rate practically, being 
the action and influence of the mother. 

The union of the husband and wife cannot reach its ideal 
perfection without involving the most perfect accord in sym- 
pathy upon every subject, or in case of varieties of tempera- 
ment, the most entire mutual appreciation, and does not the 
education of the children that springs from it transcend in 
importance every other mutual interest ? If the parents do 
not unite in that, the unity of their whole relation must be 
broken. When circumstances leave the mother to perform 
this duty alone, she must take the place of the father, as well 
as fulfil her own duties, and sometimes her endeavor to do 
this gives to her efforts an earnestness and vitality that sur- 
pass those she made when the responsibility was shared. But 
if seconded from the beginning by the firmer will of the man, 
her grateful task is lightened. 

Every newly-created being is a bundle of faculties, an 
incalculable power calculable only to the Being that created 
it. The whole universe is the response to the powei-s wrapped 
up in this human soul, and these powers are to be cultivated 
to their utmost extent, that by communication with the 
universe and with God through it, it may do its appointed 
work for the soul. The culture and direction of these pow- 
ers are entrusted to parents, and in this part of the existence 
— the earthly school — the action of the parents may be 
nearly all-controlling in the formation of character. A vio- 
lent, unregulated, selfish will may nip in the bud the very 
sources of earthly happiness and development in a child ; a 
weak and selfish indulgence may nourish selfish propensities 
in it, and weaken the springs of character. 



lO KiNDEkGARTEN MESSENGER. 

Again, a child may possess faculties superior to those of 
either parent. Parents must therefore work reverently as 
well as devotedly, to put it in harmony with God and the 
world, taking care to give it command of its faculties rather 
than to guide them arbitrarily in any particular direction. 
, Devout and intelligent parents would watch sacredly for the 
sure indication of bent, and may often learn by so doing 
more than they can teach. Mr. Emerson says no man can 
teach another, but can only remove obstacles from the path, 
and secure liberty in following out nature's indications, — in 
short, leave the universe to teach. This view would lead a 
parent to exercise no arbitrary influence whatever, but only 
to win love and confidence by bestowing love and confidence ; 
and thus armed with power, to enunciate general principles, 
which can be done to a child as well as to a man. 

Every tone of the parents' voices, every motion they make, 
educates the child well or ill. The mother has the child's 
whole confidence, growing partly out of its organic life in her, 
which may last long after birth ; that depends upon herself; 
and if she knows how to addi-ess it, its soul will be transpar- 
ent to her. It is impossible for her to delegate this function 
of sympathy to any one, even the father cannot assume it, 
except in special cases where feminine characteristics are 
strong in his nature. If the mother does not know how to 
keep the child's confidence, a check is immediately put upon 
its development. If she loses her patience, she wounds the 
heart and injures the temper of her child, for the cry of pain 
often takes the form of ill temper ; if she punishes it thought- 
lessly or selfishly or petulantly or without making her child 
understand her action, she tempts it to deceive her ; if she 
deceives it, she ruins everything, makes it impossible for the ' 
ideal of truth to rise before the child's mind, and ten to one 
it is made radically untruthful. If she is unjust, she puts it 
upon its self-defense, and smothers the voice of conscience, 
which can only be heard in humility, and in the " beauty of 
contrition." If she is selfish to it, she will evoke selfishness 



I 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. II 

from it inevitably. She must be as careful, in short, " not to 
offend one of these little ones " as lovers are not to offend 
each other, else their faith will be impaired ; for when the 
perfect accord of sympathy is lost, love and confidence follow. 
There can be no greater misfortune to a child than to suffer, 
and, later in life, to realize a moral or an affectionate want in 
its mother, or in its fathei*, if it has enjoyed at any time inti- 
mate relations with him. The anchor of the child's soul is 
then lost, and it may drift anywhere, for only through the 
near providence of its mother, can it realize the greater Prov- 
idence encompassing them both. 

How is it possible for a mother to risk delegating all this 
responsibility to another, whom she knows to be less qualified 
to meet it than herself? Who can be expected to have 
patience, long suffering, disinterestedness towards her child, if 
she fails herself? Who can be expected to watch for the first 
temptations to untruth, to selfishness, to the domineering spirit 
children so often show to one another, with the interest and 
insight of the mother ? Nowhere can they be met and attend- 
ed to at the right moment, but in the home, and by herself. 
But the mother must not only be prepared for this, she must be 
helped in it. If the father does not act with her, as her 
kingdom is a divided one, all her purposes may be baf&ed. 
She is not mistress in her own household, unless his sympa- 
thy and will are with her. If he obliges her to neglect her 
child to attend to his pleasures, she may lose the clue that 
both together could keep. It is his duty, on the contrary, to 
remove all other cares from her, that she may have seren- 
ity, strength, command of her mind and all its powers, for the 
great work before her. She needs the strengthening of his 
firmer will, and he needs the softening influence of her ten- 
derness and fibrile sympathy for her child, if I may so term 
it. If he is a true man, his interest and delight in her new 
manifestation of feeling, the maternal sentiment, will be such 
that he will never outi'age it by a selfish demand. He will 
be content, also ; indeed no wandering desires will impel him 



12 ■ KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

to turn her away from the object of her care, or prevent 
him from joining in her watch. 

Parents enter upon this duty, in average cases, with very 
little consideration of its scope, or its obligations. They 
generally marry to gratify their own affections, which is inno- 
cent enough, but if they look no farther, not productive of 
much good to either ; for an exclusive regard for one's own 
affections, and a constant demand for homage, often become 
perverted into the most impracticable and corrupting selfish- 
ness. There must be disinterestedness in the mutual affec- 
tion which will stand the test of all trial, a sentiment of — or 
rather an unconscious — self-abnegation, that no trial except 
loss of faith in each other can destroy. 

Some women marry for purely selfish reasons, for support, 
or to gain freedom for themselves, or to take a place in soci- 
ety. In such cases the confinement consequent upon the care 
of children becomes irksome, and is delegated to alien hands. 
There is but one remedy for these evils of thoughtless and self- 
ish marriages. It is the jDrevious culture, in every woman, of 
the maternal sentiment planted by nature in her heart, but 
often left in the germ until actual motherhood wakes it up. 
Actual motherhood is not needed to do this. Ideal mother- 
hood can be cultivated by the personal care of children, and, 
happily in our day, there are means of studying this art on 
the most scientific basis. If the sentiment has not been thus 
previously developed and educated, it may remain an unen- 
lightened instinct in the mother ; and, at any rate, while it is 
growing, and it often does grow wonderfully by what it feeds 
on, her child must suffer from her want of enlightenment. 
Meantime the education goes on inevitably, although depen- 
dent for quality upon the joint action and intelligence of the 
parents. 

In giving a general view of the parental duty, we must 
suppose circumstances that allow freedom of action. A degree 
of poverty that obliges parents to leave their children daily, 
makes it impossible to realize theoretical results, and it would 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 3 

be unreasonable to require compliance with ideal conditions 
in such cases. It is only where it can be done, that we can 
say it ought to be done ; but if its importance were recog- 
nized in the community, would marriage be entered into so 
recklessly, and would not all social relations be modified, and 
life be arranged accordingly ? Would not the requirements 
of society, in the well-to-do classes, loosen their hold upon 
parents engaged in the education of a young family, or con- 
fine their demands to such reasonable limits as would not 
interfere with the duty, but rather aid in its fulfilment? 
Would not the most intelligent and cultivated assistance be 
selected, as in royal families, to help forward the home edu- 
cation, rather than strong muscle ? 

The central and crowning princi|)le of the education, which 
should be given by the mother, and which begins with the 
life of the child, is the inculcation of the moral law. Moral- 
ity is not directly teachable to a very little child. It can 
only be taught by symbols and by the analogy that actually 
exists between moral and physical law. The mother must 
have a clear sense of law herself, and her method must be a 
golden thread running through all the chance influences that 
she cannot control. The steadiness of her own mind must 
be the anchor of the child's mind. There is a law inherent 
in everything, and she must eliminate it for the child's guid- 
ance. Law is so grateful to our constitution of mind, so 
unerring in its workings, that the perception of it becomes a 
specific delight, and the manifestation of this delight can be 
observed in a well-trained child who is guided to use its fac- 
ulties in practical work. 

Of play, which is the method of communication with the 
child, and also its own mode of expressing its inner self, 
Plato says, in his Republic: "From their earliest years the 
plays of children ought to be subject to strict laws. For if 
their plays, and those who mingle with them, are arbitrary 
and lawless, how can they become virtuous men, law- 
abiding and obedient ? On the contrary, when children are 



14 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

early trained to submit to laws in their plays, love for these 
laws enters into their souls, and helps their development." 

In another place he says : " Play has the mightiest influence 
on the maintenance or non-maintenance of laws; and if chil- 
dren's plays are conducted according to rules and laws, and 
they always pursue their amusements in conformity with 
order, while finding pleasure therein, it need not be feared 
that when they are grown up, they will break laws whose 
objects are more serious." 

The law of love is as inevitable in its operation for the 
development of the afiections, as is the physical law of symme- 
try and proportion, communicated to the mind through the 
intellect for artistic unfolding. The two are always in har- 
mony, for love and beauty are one. 

So of the law of truth. But for this the child's faith in 
its mother must be unbroken. It must never doubt. If 
she is unerringly truthful herself, in act, as well as in word, 
her child will soon know it, and imbibe the principle from the 
very aura of her presence. She must know how to hunt 
falsehood into all corners ; she must implant the apprehen- 
sion that falsehood is an enemy in disguise that may spring 
upon the offender at any moment ; she must inculcate the 
law of fair play, which underlies every sentiment of justice. 
An invasion of this law, supposing such an event should hap- 
pen under the child's observation, should be sorrowed over 
with an earnestness that will excite compassion for the cul- 
prit ; and the salutary feeling of aversion to the act will take 
care of itself. In the clear heaven of a child's imagination it 
passes judgments, and these are not easily forgotten. 

A mother would also wish to be the one to give her child 
its first knowledge of God. The child will ask very early 
who made it, and will not be satisfied with an equivocal an- 
swer. The demand is a natural and a vital one, and a de- 
cided step in development. Sometimes the knowledge of 
God is gained incidentally, or by a chance expression, and 
often the impression is a painful one of Power, rather than a 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 5 

softening one of Love. If it comes in any other shape but 
that of love, it is necessaiily so, and to avoid this, the mother 
must be vigilant. The child feels confidence in the power 
of the mother, through her love, and the feeling for the heav- 
enly Parent for whom his love is excited, will naturally be a 
similar one. 

The activity of young children is a great tax upon the 
strength, the nerves, the patience, and the resources of a 
mother. Her vital interest deprives her of the relief of the 
school teacher, whose whole time and thoughts are not so 
engrossed ; hence, the palpable duty of the father ; for this 
activity, this intense curiosity, this desire to examine every- 
thing, and to be doing something, constructively or destruc- 
tively, is the very means for the child's culture. The mother 
must be educated for it, and the education must be previous 
to marriage, for it will require not only theoretical but prac- 
tical instruction. Does not the requirement point out the 
nature and direction of her culture? If home is to be the 
regenerator of society, and that it can be made so is the 
most cheering hope to oppose to the growing danger of ma- 
terial prosperity and unenlightened political action, woman 
must be the instrument. Can she have a nobler vocation, 
or a wider sphere ? To fit herself for it, she must pursue 
the most interesting, the noblest studies. The study of lan- 
guage in its structure and historical development ; of the 
philosophy of the human mind, of which language is the ves- 
tibule and the exponent ; the study of the exact sciences, to 
such an extent as to give precision and method to the mind ; 
history, that will give her knowledge of human development 
in time, which is the symbol of development in the individ- 
ual ; natural history, which is an exhaustless quarry, and the 
most attractive topic for the instruction of the young ; chem- 
istry and physics, to explain the science of common things 
intelligently ; knowledge of art sufiicient to direct the devel- 
opment of the artistic powers in young children ; all these 
things should be at the command of the mother, even if she 



1 6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

is obliged to invoke outside assistance of the same quality 
in the instruction of her children. Why should there not be 
as many Mrs. Somervilles as there are women in easy circum- 
stances, who can command their leisure ? If education was 
begun as early as it can and should be, and by education I 
do not mean filling a child's mind with facts, but drawing 
out its powers and affections, by directing its blind impulses 
aright, there might be a nation of such women. The facul- 
ties of man, which are the instruments given him to converse 
with God in nature, often lie dormant till they almost lose 
the power of action. No one who has had the first handling 
of little children, in the process of educating them, can have 
failed to see how little cultivation, even of the senses, they 
generally have at home ; how obtuse they are to impressions ; 
how unskilful and awkward in manipulation ; how perverted 
in their notions of things ; how difficult it is for them to see 
what is before their eyes ; how little they understand of the 
words spoken to them ; how vague their comprehension ; how 
dulled their curiosity ; how evidently their early and eager 
questions have been put aside; how little sense of power 
they possess. The exceptional examples of quick a2:)prehen- 
sion, discriminating curiosity, luminous faces, aptness to take 
hold of employment, prove how abnormal this average stu- 
pidity is ; for it is not, necessarily, specially gifted children 
who are still curious and bright when they come out of the 
hands of their domestic educators ; it is those children who 
have been duly attended to at home. Children apparently 
most favored by circumstances show the most of this stupid- 
ity. Those who have had everything done for them, instead 
of being made to do all they can for themselves ; who have 
been educated, thus far, by ignorant nurseiy maids, unhappily 
the chief educators of young children belonging to polite 
society, find it most difficult to use their benumbed faculties. 
The common nursery educators do not even know how to 
play intelligently with them, and bribe and frighten them not 
to tell the devices they resort to, to get rid of the trouble. I 



KINDRRGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 7 

do not say this at random, for in my twenty-one years of 
school-keeping for little children, I made many discoveries in 
this field, being an imaginary mother, into whose ear little 
ones poured their sorrows. And in these confidences I was 
often asked not to tell the mother. The fear was doubtless 
of the intervening nursery maid, for some of the mothers 
were kind and loving, but it showed that the normal relation 
between mother and child had been broken. 

In speaking of a specific culture for the natural vocation 
of mother and educator, I would not limit any one's taste in 
selecting their pursuits, or the culture required for them, but 
unless all intention of cultivating the natural afiections is 
repudiated, I would not advise any one to neglect the mater- 
nal side of the nature ; and there is a great difference between 
the worth of the objects for which culture is to be acquired, 
and there is a scale of values not lightly to be disregarded. 
To shine in society, to compete with her brother man in pro- 
fessional, commercial, or political life, — are these such worthy 
aims for her, as to cultivate those faculties that will make the 
most enlightened mothers and educators? I think there 
must be, in some language, a root of the word mother, mean- 
ing educator. Is it not known to mean the matrix in which 
is embedded the formation of the human being, and why not 
spiritually, as well as physically, for all creation is but an 
emblem of spiritual life. I presume no one will deny that 
these are woman's distinctive and natural vocations. 

Why should she not be thankfiil to be exempted from the 
necessity of undertaking the coarser and heavier work of life, 
instead of complaining of the exemption ? While man repre- 
sents the element that must contend with the evils and obsta- 
cles of existence in this sphere, woman may represent the spirit- 
ual element that is to transmute these evils and obstacles into 
means of growth for him and for herself. If she so cultivates 
herself as to command man's respect and reverence by her 
inculcation of the highest principles, which her delicacy of 
perception and susceptibility of impression enable her when 



1 8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

well trained to analyze and to impart, will she not take a 
place such as the outside world can never give her, and make 
the home which is her field the microcosm of government 
from which the larger government of the world shall take 
pattern ; for as the homes of a nation, so will the nation be. 

Her natural position with regard to the world precludes \ 
the necessity of her making those compromises, which are | 
called expediency, and which the still very imperfect devel- I 
opment of humanity render necessary, in practical life, to 
some extent, on the principle that it is best to secure a por- 
tion of good, as stepping-stone to the attainment of the whole. 

Her exemption from the strife gained by her exemption! 
from the coarsest worldly cares, and from direct contact witl 
evil, in its worst forms, ought t© enable her to keep first princi-J 
pies more uniformly in sight ; and to help men to resist the 
temptation of yielding too much to this mode of settling pres- 
ent difficulties, a mode always seriously corrupting when not 
restrained by principle. The clearer insight for the educa- 
tion of man, which she may get by her cultiire, undisturbed 
by the passions of the hour, may help lift him to higher 
motives than those of ambition or worldly success. Is not 
this a better sphere than to enter the arena of strife, and 
become a candidate for those worldly honors, only valuable 
to any one when earned by character and moral indepen- 
dence, and not by accident? Society already gives some 
offices of trust to woman, and will give more as they prove 
their ability for them. 

And what can the child do for home ? Can it not bring 
back youth to the parents, and make them review all that life 
has yet taught them, in the light of a love* that fills their 
whole being? Are not human parents the representatives of 
the Universal Father to the child, in its earliest years, for he 
knows nothing of God but what he knows in them. If they 
do their duty to it, do they not find their reward in every 
day of their intercourse with it? Is there any possession 
that can compare in value with the affection and confidence 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 9 

they inspire ? Is there any study so absorbing, so suggestive, 
so comprehensive, as the unfolding of a human soul, in full 
possession of its powers; and in full enjoyment of and com- 
munion with the universe, that corresponds to those powers ? 
And, by the child's unspoken and unconscious demand of 
perfection in them, does he not hold them up continually to 
their own highest ideal ? 



HARMONY OF PROEBEL WITH SWEDENBORQ. 

Mak's life is formative and transformative. Every attempt to 
suppress his free embodiment of himself in the elements in which 
he finds himself, is vain ; the privative formality of the Quaker is as 
unquestionable as the positive formality of the Romanist, and there- 
fore, nothing is so dry as the cap\i,t mortunm of quakerism, in those 
of the society who are not personally spiritual. "Testimonies" 
the most sacred, ought never to prevent the free action of the pro- 
gressive spirit. If they cease to be merely stepping-stones, they 
become terrible stumbling-blocks. Even the spiritual significance 
Moses gave to the forms of Hebrew worship, did not ensure their 
continued spiritual power over those who exalted their letter over 
their spirit. 

Childhood, with its spontaneous dance and song, teaches more 
truth than all the doctors of the Temple, who are legitimately 
surprised by its understanding and answers ; and they may learn 
of it the laws of the kingdom of heaven better than by the Cabala. 

We give below an extract from the Rev. Chauncey Giles's Heav- 
enly Blessedness, that might have been written to sum the philoso- 
phy of Froebel. It seems to us that if this is the philosophy of 
Swedenborg, every Swedenborgian society should have for its mis- 
sionaries kindergarteners, to teach the children of the rising gener- 
ation ; and this would indeed be the initiation of the New Church 
Universal. Is not this what Swedenborg suggested in his book 
entitled Heaven and Hell, in which he represents infants in heaven 
under the tutelage of female angels? for is not that mysterious 
writing meant as a parable of this world's future, when the rule — 
not the exception — will be to do the heavenly Father's will on 
earth as it is done in heaven? 



20 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 



" From the very nature of love and wisdom it is evident 
that infinite love and infinite wisdom could seek no other 
end than to communicate blessedness in the wisest jjossible 
way, and in the fullest degree. If the Lord had any other 
end than the highest good of all, his love would not be in- 
finite ; and if we admit that He could seek his ends in any 
better or in any other way than He does seek them, his wis- 
dom cannot be infinite ; for it is the part of wisdom to seek 
the attainment of its ends by the best means. 

" The more we investigate the physical and spiritual na- 
ture of man, the more fully we shall be confirmed in the 
truth that every part of his form — from the least to the 
greatest, from the lowest to the highest — was designed by 
infinite wisdom to promote man's happiness. His whole 
organization points to that. Man is really a form organized 
for the reception of life from the Lord. He is the answer 
which infinite wisdom makes to the wants of infinite love. 
Love, from its very nature, must go out of itself; it must 
communicate itself; it must bless ; it burns to communicate 
itself If the Lord is a being of infinite love, He could not 
dwell alone in his own eternity. He must have an infinite 
desire to communicate his life ; to give of his own, of Him- 
self. As there were no beings co-existing whom He could 
love. He must create them. As He could not create another 
being, having an independent, self-existing life (for the 
very idea of creation involves beginning, dependence). 
He created an organized form, capable of receiving his life. 
He made this form in his own likeness and image ; and, as 
He could not give it independent life. He made it capable of 
receiving the divine life, in such a manner that it should seem 
to be man's own, and, to all intents and purposes, should be 
his own. He gave to this organized form, which we call 
man, the power of receiving and reciprocating his love and 
life as of himself, and by its reception and exercise, He blesses 
him. He finds beings out of Himself, upon whom He can 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 21 

lavish the riches of his infinite love. To accomplish this end, 
is the use of everything in the universe. 

" A very little knowledge and reflection will enable us to 
see that the instrumentalities by which this end is attained 
are innumerable; and are all adjusted to each other, and to 
the end sought, with the nicest accuracy ; and that they 
work together with a harmony surpassing all finite wisdom. 
The material body, for example, is organized with reference 
to all material things on one side, and to the spiritual body 
on the other. The sense of touch is organized to receive 
delight from the actual contacts of the material world, and 
it is perfectly adapted to the force, resistance, roughness, form, 
and hardness of matter. If the sense of feeling was more 
delicate and keen than it is, it would be a source of contin- 
ual pain. Every contact would hurt us. If it was much 
more obtuse than it is, we should receive little or no sensa- 
tion from physical contact, and one fruitful source of earthly 
and corpoi'eal good would be cut ofi'from us. 

" Suppose we had no relish for our food, how much of earth- 
ly good would be lost. The Lord has so formed us that the 
substances of the material body require to be continually 
replenished, and He has filled the world with the greatest 
abundance and variety of meats, and the most delicate fruits, 
to meet that want. Think for a moment of this single way 
in which the Lord has provided to bless man with a sensuous 
good ! The grape, the apple, the pear, the berry, wheat, rice, 
corn, and every fruit that is good for food, is a form of the 
divine love, created for us and sent to us, and specifically adapt- 
ed, not only to supply a necessity, but to communicate a 
delight. 

" The same is true of the eye and the ear, in their relations 
to light and air. They are organized with a wisdom, which 
not only surpasses man's wisdom to conceive, in the first 
instance, but even to understand, when their forms and modes 
of operation are before him. Every sense is an avenue 
through which the Lord approaches man to bless him. His 



22 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

love streams into us through eye and ear, in every pleasing 
form of beauty, and shade of color, and harmony of sound. 
The Lord has formed the material world, so grand and beau- 
tiful, that it might be attractive to man. To go into details, 
and show the wonderful methods by which the Lord blesses 
man, as a mere physical being, would exhaust all science and 
all art. 

"But if the Lord has so accurately and wonderfully adjust- 
ed the organization of the material body to the material 
world, it is evident that we must keep within the laws of 
this organization, and act according to them, or we shall 
derange these nice harmonies, and the divine blessing, of 
which they are the embodiment, cannot reach us. On the 
contrary, we may turn it into a curse. If we desire to receive 
the blessing, we must walk in that law of the Lord by which 
alone the blessing can be communicated. The organization 
of the eye, and its relations to sight, are all laws of the Lord ; 
and no one can get the blessings which the Lord intended 
to send to us through that form, and by those methods, 
unless he walks in that law and keeps its testimonies. 

" So it is with every sense. If you desire to receive the 
blessing of appetite, you must walk in the laws of the Lord, 
with regard to it. If carried away by its delights, you vio- 
late those laws ; if you indulge in excess, or turn aside from 
the divine methods, the blessing cannot reach you, and the 
means by which it was to be communicated are turned into 
a curse. 

" This must be so in the very nature of things, for it requires 
the most accurate adjustment of the most complicated and 
delicate forms to secure a specific end; as the communication 
of a delight, it is evident that any violation of the order, or 
any violence done to the organization, would defeat the end. 

" Here we see a principle of universal application to all 
forms and degrees of the mind. The Lord accomplishes all 
his ends, by the most various and complicated instrumental- 
ity, and, when we see how He effects a purpose, we see how 
infinite wisdom does it. We see the only way in which it 
can be accomplished, and we must walk in that way, if we 
desire to reach that end. 

"The human mind, or soul, is a form organized of spiritual 
substances; it is a spiritual body, and it is subject to all 
the laws of organization ; it is a form created to receive life 
from the Lord in a higher degree than the material body. 
But it is none the less a real and substantial form. The will 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 23 

is as truly an organic form as the material heart; and the 
understanding as the material eye. The understanding is 
the eye of the soul, not in a metaphorical or analogical sense, 
but really in actual form ; and it sees by the reception of 
spiritual light which is truth, as the material eye sees by the 
influx into it of natural light. 

"The Lord blesses man spii'itually then in the same way 
that He does naturally. He cannot pour love into the heart, 
and truth into the understanding, while man remains a mere- 
ly passtye subject. We must act as of ourselves, as we do 
in natural things. Love in every form of affection, and wis- 
dom in every form of knowledge and tt^uth, are blessings 
from the Lord. The love of country and home, of friend and 
neighbor, of husband and wife and child, and all our social 
and domestic affections, are forms of the divine love in us. 
They are blessings perpetually flowing from the Lord. They 
are his gifts to us. It is the same with all the delights of 
knowledge. Every truth of nature or spirit is a form of the 
divine love, and it is sent to us from the Lord to bless us. 
Infinite wisdom has devised the form, and the method of 
sending them, and we can only receive them in that way. 
If we walk in it, we shall receive the blessing. Every law 
of the Lord is a mode or way of communicating a blessing. 
If we walk in the law, we shall receive the blessing. He 
intended to send us by that path. If we miss the path, we 
shall be missing. If we do not love our country; if we shun 
society ; if we hate our fellow-men ; if we do not love wife 
or child ; if we will not learn the truth, we exclude all the 
blessings that the Lord would send us in these forms. The 
Lord cannot communicate the blessings which come to us in 
the perceptions of beauty of form and color and relation, 
and the innumerable pleasing images which flow in through 
the eye, in any other way than by the eye. He cannot send 
them to us through the ear or touch or taste. According 
to the same law, He cannot send the blessings that flow from 
the exercise of spiritual affections, and the knowledge of spir- 
itual truth, in any other way than by the exercise of those 
spiritual faculties, which the Lord has made for their recep- 
tion. We must walk in these laws of the Lord, to receive 
these blessings." * 

* See pp. 3 — 8 of "Heavenly Blessedness; what it is, and how attained," in 
a series of discourses on the Beatitudes ; by Bev. Chauncy Giles, author of " The 
Nature uf Spirit, and of Man as a Spiritual Being," etc. Published by James 
Spiers, 36 Bloomsbury Street, London, 1872 ; and sold in New York at No. 20 Coop- 
er Union, by E. H. Swinney. 



24 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

Many persons, inquiring into the subject of Froebel's reform, 
ask, Where are the genuine, Kindergartens? We therefore give 
this list — which is probably complete, with the exception of the 
German-American ones. 

The names marked with (*) are of those trained by Mrs. Kriege and her daughter; 
those marked with (t) by Miss Garland, her substitute and successor. 

The largest Kindergarten, and a model with the best conditions, 
is that of Mrs. Kraus-Boelte, 7 Gramercy Park, Twentieth 
Street, New York, being a part of Miss Haines's large educa- 
tional establishment. She is assisted by her husband, Mr. J. 
Kraus. 

Miss Blow, of St. Louis, student with and approved pupil of Mrs. 
Kraus-Boelte, has a model Kindergarten at the Normal School 
of St. Louis, Mo. 

* Miss Garland, at 98 Chestnut Street, Boston, has also a model 

Kindergarten. She is assisted by Miss E.. J. Weston, who 
was trained by herself. 
t One of her pupils, Miss Symonds, also keeps the Kindergarten in 
Somerset and Allston Streets, — the only public Kindergarten 
as yet in America, except Miss Blow's, in St. Louis. 

* Miss Annie C. Eust has a private Kindei'garten at 113 Pembroke 

Street, Boston. 

* Miss Horn has one at 8 Centre Street, Boston Highlands. 

* Miss Nina More, at a private house, Mt. Vernon Street, Boston. 

* Miss S. H. Curtis, at a private house in Brookline, Mass. 

* Miss Anna Davis, at a private house at Chelsea, Mass. 

* Miss Mattie Stearns, at a private house at Fitchburg, Mass. 

* Mrs. A. B. Knox, at No. 1 Elm Street, Worcester, Mass. 

* Miss Alice Matthews, at Yarmouth Point, Mass. 

* Miss Hersey, at Melrose, Mass. 

t Mrs. Waterman, at Melrose, Mass. 

t Miss Alice Balch, at Marlborough, Mass. 

* Mrs. C. B. Thomas, at 158 Friendship Street, Providence, E. I. 

* Miss Priscilla Hadyn, at Waterbury, Conn. 

* Miss Kate E. Smith, at 569 Madison Avenue, Elizabeth, N. J. 

* Miss Gilmore, Orange, N. J. 

* Miss Hyde, at Grand Eapids, Mich. 

t Mrs. John Ogden, 181 East Long Street, Columbus, Ohio. 

* Miss Mary Cranch Peabody, at New Bedford, Mass. 

t Miss C. E. Dewing, at Madame D'Herville's school, Philadelphia. 

* Mrs. Longfellow, No. 128 Eemsen Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

* Mrs. Phalen, somewhere in California. 

Miss Julia Smith, at Montclair, N. J., trained by *Miss Ella 

Snelling. 
In Miss Marwedel's School, at 1313 K Street, Washington, D. C, 

Miss Susie Pollock, trained by Lina Morgenstein, Berlin. 






VOL. IL APRIL, 1874. No. 4. 



A PERIODICAL OF 24 PAGES. 




inforpi[tcn JH^sseng^r, 



EDITED BY 



ELIZABETH P. PEABODY. 



TEEMS ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR, IS ADVANCE, 

Payable to the Editor, 19 Follen Street, Cambridge, Mass. 

Subscribers for 1874 can have the numbers for 1873 at half price — 
fifty cents = — as long as the edition holds out. These numbers contain 
important matter that wUl not be repeated. 

TEEMS OF ADVERTISEMENT. 

25 cents a line for short advertisements. 

15 cen tra line for advertisements of 12 lines. 

Yearl^ll|^vertisements as by agreement. 

Adveetisements for the inside of the covers are solicited, especially 
from publishers, manufacturers of Kindergarten materials, and .teachers 
of any branches of knowledge. 



AMONG THE FLOWERS. 



Miss-Youmans's First Book of Botany $1.00 

Miss Youmans's Second Book of Botany 1.50 

The cliaracterlstic features of Miss Youmans's plan may be summed up as fol- 
lows: 
FiBST. It lays tlie foundation for a knowledge of Botany in the only true way, by 

providing for the aciiial and regular study of plants themselves. This practice is 

eriforced by the plan of the books. 
Secojtd. It provides for a systematic training in, the art of observation. 
Third. This plan tirst supplies the long-recognized deficiency of object-teaching, 

by reducing it to a method, and connecting it with an estabUsbed branch of 

school study. 
Fourth. The subject may be pursued by young children in the family ; and any 

intelhgent teacher or parent can conduct them easily through the exercises. 
Fifth. The method is entirely practical. 

Harris, Pickard, De Wolf, Snow, Rickoflf, Phelps, White, Apgar, Brooks, Hart, 
Bateman, Newell, and others of national reputation, have voluntarily commended 
it in unqualified terms. 

ALSO, 

HENSLOWS BOTANICAL CHARTS, 

Modified and adapted for u^e in the Uidted States, by Eliza A. Yotjmans. 
Price (six Charts, with a key), mounted on rollers, $18. 
One of the most attractive, interesting, and instructive accessories for the school- 
room ever i)ublislKd. 
Sample copies of the above books, for examination, will be mailed, postpaid, to 
teachers and school ottlcers, on receipt of one-half price. 

D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, 

549 and 551 Broadway, New York. 

^~ hTn. McKINNEY & CO., 

Publishers and Booksellers 

PHILADELPHIA, PA. 

Will begin, in February, a .=eries of pamphlets, at 25 cents each, 

Leclures oo The lurseff and The lindefgaften, 

By Miss E. P. PEABODY. 

These Lectures, which were addressed to the Normal Class in training by Miss 
Garland, were read to them and the parents and friends of education — who sub- 
scribed to sustain the free class, in the winter of 1872-73, in Boston. 

JMifs Peabodv, being obliged to refuse to go to a distance and repeat these Lec- 
tures, has consented to their publication in a serial form. 

They will be sold in Boston at Williams's, coiner of School and Washington 
Streets. Orders solicited. 

THE stuuggle'poe, existence, 

{AFTER THE GERMAN OF ROBERT BYR,) 

One Vol. 12mo. SCO pages. Price, .$1.50. 

" It has been popular in Germany, and \vili increase the admiration with which 
Americans look upon educated German liberals." — Boston Daily Advertiser. 

"Written amid tlie storms which preceded the German Empire, it teems with 
fascinating effects and powerful delineations." — Publishers' Weeldy, 



Eittdetgattett ^mmpx. 



Vol. it. — APRIL, 1874.— No. ^ 



THE EDUCATION OP MAN. 

BY FRIEDKICH FROEBEL. 

[Continued from page 4 of the March number.] 

This ideal of life, which we Christians find in Jesus, and 
which humanity recognizes as the only model of its life, 
implies in itself the clear and perfect knowledge of eternal 
life, the principle, origin, and end of the existence of man. 
Now the eternal ideal requires that every man in his turn 
should give an image of this eternal model. Every man is 
thus to become a model for others, and must manifest him- 
self according to the eternal law, in all liberty, conscience, 
and spontaneity. If the ideal or divine type is the unique 
model to be followed in all education, free choice of the 
mode or external manifestation of this is none the less sub- 
ject to the individual appreciation of parents or teachers. 
Our own experience teaches us, meantime, that this eternal 
ideal seems to require a great deal from our weakness, and 
appears severe and inflexible. The human mind is always 
expected, however, to make its aim nothing less, without 
being subservient in its details and application to such or 
such a conventional, individual, or imposed form. 

In all good education, in all true instruction, liberty and 
spontaneity are to be secured to the child, to the pupil, by 
all means. Constraint and aversion would crowd out liberty 
and love. Wherever hatred evokes hatred, and severity, 
fraud, or oppression induces slavery, where necessity or 



2 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

domestic service brings servitude, where harshness engen- 
ders obstinacy and deceitfulness, the action of education and 
instruction is null and void. To avoid this shoal, educators 
and instructors must act as we have already indicated. 
They will succeed in their aim only by choosing the mode of 
education or instruction adapted to the nature of each indi- 
vidual, while respecting the eternal law in all its integrity. 
Let educators and instructors not lose sight of this double 
duty, which their function makes incumbent upon them ; let 
them always, and at the same time, give and take, unite and 
separate, anticipate and follow, act and let act ; let them now 
assign an end, and now leave the child to choose one ; let 
them be at once firm and flexible. 

But between the child and the educator, the master and 
the pupil, rises a third requisition, to which child, educator, 
master and pupil must equally submit. We mean the choice 
of all that is conformable to justice and the highest good. It 
is by satisfying this requisition that they will reveal and 
manifest the justice and goodness which they bear within 
themselves; and we can truly say that from earliest child- 
hood, the child meets and satisfies this requisition with sur- 
prising tact; for we rarely see him withdraw himself voluntarily 
from these obligations. The choice of justice and goodness 
is to preside over the smallest acts in education and true 
instruction. Let educators and instructors never lose sight 
of this truth, for it is the source of that formula which is 
generally accepted in all true education : '■'-Do such or such 
a thing^ and then see what it produces j how it leads to the 
end that you propose; what is the Jcnowledge that you have 
acquired by its means?'' And also the following maxim : '■'■In 
order that the intellectual being that lives within you shall 
manifest itself outwardly and by the outward in all its integ- 
rity^ interrogate that being and learn to know itP Jesus, 
proceeding thus in regard to himself, initiates us into the 
divinity of his and our being, his and our life, and his and 
our mission ; giving us knowledge of the principle and being 
of all truth and life. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 3 

To make this understood, and to apply it to education, 
educators and instructors are to make the particular flow 
from the general, and the general from the particular, 
in order, afterwards, to show them united. They are to 
enable their pupils to seize the distinction between the inte- 
rior and the exterior, and between the exterior and the 
interior; and to point out the union which necessarily exists 
between these two conditions of the being or the thing. 
They are to establish the difference between the infinite and 
what appears finite, and between the finite and the infinite, 
and to show the relations of the two ; they are, in fine, to 
lead the child and the pupil to behold the divine action in 
man as the being of man which is according to God, and 
the intimate union that exists between man and God. 

This is what will spring clearly from the knowledge of 
man through man ; and so much the more as man will seek 
the image of his own life, both in the life of the human child, 
and in the history of the development of humanity. 

Since we find in the life of man, a finite, temporal, terres- 
trial being, the manifestation of an infinite, celestial, eternal 
principle ; since we find in the origin and whole internal 
being of man, the divine action which constitutes the essence 
of his being, and since the whole aim of education is to make 
manifest, and publish through man, the action of God in 
him; it is necessary to consider him from the first moment 
of his appearance on earth, and to be convinced that from 
the time he leaves the bosom of his mother he requires pecu- 
liar cares. 

Let us then consider man especially in his healthy and 
integral origin ; let us regard his soul and his intelligence as 
an essence proceeding from God, and animating a human 
form. Let the child appear to us a living pledge of the 
presence, goodness, and love of God. It is thus that the first 
Christians looked upon their children ; and this was the sig- 
nificance also of the names they gave to them. 

Every human being then, is to be considered a real and 



4 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

necessary member of the human race ; and by this title he 
becomes the object of intelligent and peculiar cares. It is 
God himself whom parents are to consider in the child He 
confides to them, * and for whom he makes them responsible 
to all humanity. 

The parents will also consider the child in relation to the 
evident connection of the past, the present, and the future of 
the development of humanity. They will always have in 
view, during his education, the demands of the past, the 
present, and the future of the human race. Thus looking 
upon the child in his relations with God, nature, and human- 
ity, they will recognize in him a unity, an individuality, which 
carrying in it the germ of which it was the product, contains 
at once the past, present, and future of humanity. Then let 
us not consider man, or humanity in man, as the appearance 
of a being who has attained the most elevated point of his 
development and perfect unfolding. Let us regard this fig- 
ure of humanity as a progressive being, marching on forever, 
passing from one stage of development to another, his eyes 
turned incessantly towards the end he wishes to attain; 
aspiring to the infinite, the eternal. We fall into an error 
by looking upon the development and formation of humanity 
as the result of an isolated action, incessantly renewed in a 
community of similar beings. In considering thus the devel- 
opment of the human race, the children as well as the present 
races would be nothing more than servile copies of anterior 
models, when they are destined, on the contrary, to become 
living models for the future, by the degree of development 
they shall have acquired for the profit of future races of the 
great human community. Every human race, as well as 
every individual man, is the resume of the total development 
acquired by the preceding progress of the human race. If it 
were not so, man could not comprehend the past or present 



* "Whoever receiveth a little child in my name, receivetli me, and Him that 

SENT ME." 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 5 

of humanity. Let him know, then, that God has not put 
him into the narrow path of imitation, but has placed him 
upon the high road of development, by giving him liberty 
and spontaneity. Let each man stand as a model for him- 
self and others ; for in each man, each member of humanity 
and child of God, all humanity appears. In each man, also, 
humanity, manifesting itself in a manner so varied and so 
peculiar to each individual, has a so much greater presenti- 
ment of the essence of his being, and of the being of God in 
his infinity; while it also proclaims the creative element by 
the diversities it incessantly engenders. It is only by means 
of the perfect knowledge of man and of all things to which 
that knowledge of man leads us ; it is only by means of this 
penetration into the interior being of man, that we are 
instructed in what are the wants and demands Avhich educa- 
tion is called upon to satisfy ; it is only by means of the 
minute examination of man, from the first instant of his 
coming into this world, that we can hope to see the cares 
with which we surround the child bear good fruit. 

The duties of husbands and wives and of parents, before 
and after the coming of the child into the world, spring 
cleai'ly from all we have said. Let them endeavor to render 
their lives pure and holy ; let them be penetrated with the 
dignity and the value of a man ; let them consider them- 
selves the protectors, the depositaries, the vigilant guardians 
of a gift, which God commits to their care ; let them instruct 
themselves in the human destiny ; let them search for the 
path which is to lead man to his end, for thus only can they 
attain the knowledge of what their child is, in relation to 
God, in relation to humanity, in relation to themselves. * 
The destiny of man, the child of God and nature, consists 
in manifesting himself as a union of these ; for he is the link 



* The identity of thi8 view with that givea in Mrs.Mann's lecture to the Women's 
Club, published in the March number, seems to make her a plagiarist, but she 
had not read this book when she wrote her lecture. 



6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

between the natural and the divine, the terrestrial and the 
celestial, the finite and the infinite. The destiny of the child 
as a member of a family, consists in developing and manifest- 
ing in himself the being of the family, the aptitudes, the 
forces which he draws from its union. The destiny of man, 
inasmuch as he is a member of humanity, consists in devel- 
oping and manifesting in himself the being, forces, and facul- 
ties of humanity in general. 

It is thus that in manifesting and developing themselves 
individually, completely, and freely, children who are the 
members of the same family, manifest and develop at the same 
time, the character of their parents and family, and often 
also, dispositions and faculties that hitherto they had not 
recognized in themselves, or supposed to exist, although they 
did exist at the depths of their being. 

To be continued. 



GLIMPSES or PSYCHOLOGY -NO. i. 

If the spontaneous will of man, and his heart with its latent 
love, hope, and sense of beauty and justice, are without date, 

" An eye among the blind, 
That, deaf and silent, reads the eternal deep, 
Haunted forever by the eternal mind," 

yet there is no doubt that the human understanding, as well 
as the body, begins in time, and gradually identifies the 
individual for communication with other individuals of its 
kind. The beginning of the human understanding is in the 
impressions of an environing universe, against which the 
sensibility reacts, and by this activity developes the organs 
of sense, which are the connection of those two great con- 
trasts, the soul and the outward universe. For perceptions 
of sense are the instrumentality by which the will vivifies 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. / 

the heart, so disposing the particulars of the surrounding 
universe as to give the definite form of thoughts to conscious- 
ness. The human being has no absolute knowledge like the 
lower animals, who are passive instrumentality of God to cer- 
tain finite ends below the plane of spirituality. Created for 
the infinite ends of intelligence, and free communion with 
one another and God, men need to become conscious of the 
whole process of their own being, and do so by a gradual con- 
versation with God, who is forever saying, by the universe, 
which is his speech, I am. And here education begins its 
offices, by helping man to reply Thott art, which he does by 
his legitimate art. But no one man can utter the thou art 
of humanity adequately. It takes all humanity forever and 
ever to do so ; and it does not do so but just so far as the men 
who compose it are in mutual understanding and communion 
with each other. Therefore each man must be taken by the 
hand by those already conscious, and led to realize his own 
consciousness by learning that of his fellows. 

In the action and reaction of the individual with his spec- 
ial environment, he comes to distinguish himself from that 
which gives him pleasure and pain, and he will be attracted to 
the former, and repelled from the latter ; and thus come to 
discriminate outward things from each other. The observa- 
tion and discrimination of the particulars of nature is thinking. 
Sensuous impressions are the raw material of thoughts, but 
discrimination and classification of things according to their 
similarities, is the operation of thought. 

Education has an office in both the accumulation of sensu- 
ous impressions and the operation of thinking. The mother 
and nurse of each child must so order the objects about him, 
that his organs shall be properly impi'essed, and not over 
taxed, because only so can they grow to be a good instru- 
mentality for receiving ever more delicate impressions. A 
tender sympathy for the unconscious little one, who is grad- 
ually coming to identify himself, and love, — such as only a 
mother can have in the greatest perfection, are the special 



8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

qualifications of the educator at this stage. Such a knowl- 
edge of nature's laws and order, as may enable the educator 
to lead the child's activity according to law and order, can 
alone help the child to reproduce, on his finite plane, an 
image of God's creative action. The educator who should 
succeed the nurse, is the kindergartener, who, without lacking 
.the sympathetic affection of the nurse, must add a knowledge 
of nature both material and spiritual, so that she may bring 
these opposites into their right connection with each other. 

She will therefore lead the child Xo produce something that 
shall serve as a ground for the operation of thinking. 
Instead of letting the blind will spend its energy in wild and 
aimless motion, she will present a desirable aim to attain, 
which will produce an effect that shall satisfy the heart, and 
produce an object that shall engage the attention, and stimu- 
late to a reproduction of it, until it is thoroughly known, not 
only in its natural properties but in the law of its being, 
which was the child's own method of producing the thing. 

The genesis of the understanding then, is, first, sensuous 
impression, which, reproducing itself intentionally, becomes, 
secondly, perception ; and, thirdly, an adapting of means to 
ends, and thereby, rising into judgment and knowledge. To 
get understanding precedes getting knowledge, which is the 
special work of the understanding, when it is developed. 

There is another faculty of the individual, besides under- 
standing, and which is to be discriminated from it — fancy. 
Vivid and clear sensuous impressions are the foundation of 
fancy, as well as of understanding. But the will, acting 
among these impressions in a wild and sovereign way, is 
fancy; while the will arranging impressions according to the 
order of nature, is understanding. Froebel has provided for 
the development of the understanding the occupations, as 
he calls the xq^\}\.2l\: production of forms, transient and perma- 
nent. Nothing can be produced which satisfies the aesthetic 
sense, except by following the laws of creation. To analyze 
these productions will give experimental understanding of 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 9 

those laws. In superintending the occupations, the kinder- 
gartener must, therefore, see that the child does things in the 
right order, and gives an account of what he does in the right 
words, for words, the first works of human art, have a great 
deal to do with the development of the understanding, lifting 
man into a sphere above that of the mere animal. After a 
thing is made, or an effect produced and named, it must be 
made a subject for analysis ; and it can easily be made so, 
because children's attention is easily conciliated to what they 
themselves have done or produced. Putting their own action 
into a thing, makes it interesting to them ; and they can make 
an exhaustive analysis of it, because, in addition to its appear- 
ances, they know the law of its being, which was their own 
method, and the cause of its being, which was their own 
motive. From analyzing their own works, children can, in 
due time, be led to analyze works of nature. And here the 
kindergartener has great room for the exercise of judgment, 
in the selection of suitable objects. 

Froebel advised that objects should be taken from the 
vegetable creation, for lessons ; and that children should be 
interested in planting seeds and watching growth, becoming 
acquainted with its general conditions, observing which are 
within the scope of their own powers to provide, and which 
are beyond human power ; thus leading the understanding 
through nature, outward and inward, to God. 

If we see that the work done is artistic, and that the ob- 
jects of nature analyzed are beautiful, this culture of the 
understanding may refine and elevate the taste, and beautify 
the fancy. 

For the fancy is to be carefully cherished by the kinder- 
gartener. It is not amenable to direct influence jDcrhaps, but 
not beyond an indirect influence. The soundness of the 
understanding is conducive to a beautiful play of fancy, 
which is a peculiarly human faculty ; for we have ftot a par- 
ticle of evidence that any animal below man has this kind of 
thinking,^ which delights in transcending the facts of nature 



lO KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

in its creations, and sometimes sets the laws of nature at 
defiance. But we must defer to another paper the many 
things we have to say in regard to the imagination and its 
culture. 



TEACHma LITTLE CHILDREN TO READ. 

[Reprinted from " Kindergarten Notes."] 

One of the most pernicious mistakes that is made in our 
fast age, to the decided injury of the young generation, is to 
goad them on by all possible allurements of praise or blame 
to learn to read, at an age when the mind of the child is not 
sufficiently developed to derive any benefit from such an 
abstract occupation. If we would only, in this important 
matter, be guided by what nature points out, and observe 
the child, we would soon see that his interest is in the 
world around him — in things, and not in letters, which are 
only the signs of things. And how vast a field nature offers 
to the child; how eager. he is to learn about all objects that 
surround him, and how often are the questions. How? 
What ? and Wherefore ? the child asks, disregarded or unsat- 
isfactorily answered. Then how incessant the craving for 
something to do, that every healthy, active child exhibits. 
And how do we meet this demand ? Generally the child is 
told, " Do not touch this," " Do not meddle with that," and 
ready-made playthings are given him, that leave him nothing 
to do but to destroy them in order to effect a change. If 
we ask ourselves why children are in all sorts of mischief, we 
will find that it is not their delight to be mischievous, but 
because of their need of some kind of occupation. Now a 
remedy for all this parents think to find, in sending the little 
children to school, to get rid of them at home ; to keep them 
from the street or out of mischief. The age at which chil- 
dren are sent to school has been marked down lower and 
lower, till they are now sent when they are barely five years 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. II 

old. I would not object to sending them so young, or even 
younger, say at three years (for children like to be among com- 
panions of their own age), if suitable occupation was pro- 
vided for them that would serve for the intellectual and phy- 
sical development adapted to their age ; but instead of this, 
one of the very first requirements is that they shall learn to 
sit still, so contrary to child nature. Then they must remem- 
ber those senseless, uninteresting figures called letters. The 
fact that they are embellished and made palatable by pasting 
them on blocks of various colors, or accompanied by pictures 
(a humane device of our age, to sugar-coat the terrible pro- 
cess of learning to read), shows that it is an unnatural forcing 
process the little ones are undergoing. I cannot but believe 
that in some instances it is vanity on the part of parents 
that makes them wish that their children should learn to read 
so early. They seem to think the child is bright if he accom- 
plishes this feat ; he is praised and becomes vain and stultified, 
but they do not seem to see that a child who does not know 
a single letter, may be far superior in general intelligence to 
such a drilled little parrot. This reminds me that I once 

visited the city of D , and was struck by the number of 

bow-legged childi'en I met in the street, and on inquiring 
what was the reason of this, was told that mothers felt quite 
proud if their children could walk soon, and put them on 
their feet before they were strong enough. A singular injury 
is done to brain-forced children, but the effects are of course 
not so readily discernable. But why should we anticipate 
what will come naturally and without trouble in the course 
of time ? 

A superintendent of public schools in Massachusetts, and 
several lady teachers in the primary department, have told 
me it was a very hard task, and of no use whatever, to teach 
the young children to read. It took them years to learn 
what children learned in a few weeks who had begun older. 
Generally those who had entered school later were, after a little 
while, better readers than those that had begun at four or 



12 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

five. Why should the little ones spend their days in the 
crowded school-room sitting still, when they could be so 
much better occupied and happy all the time ? 

It is certain that a child needs mental food, as well as 
wisely directed activity, before the age of seven, — the proper 
time at which a child might begin to learn to read without 
injury, — but by all means let us adapt the mental food to 
the digestive powers of the child. It is necessary that the 
child should learn to concentrate his mind on something for 
a little while, or else he becomes fickle and flighty, — but let 
it be objects the child is interested in and not abstractions. 
Friedrich Froebel, who has devoted his life to the study of 
childhood and its needs and wants, has presented us, in his 
Kindergarten occupations, the means to develop in the child, 
not only the intellect, but also the noblest attributes of man, 
— the creative or inventive powers, and the love for the 
beautiful. He presents the child with various simple mater- 
ials to work with, and with laws and rules by which to work, 
so that work, which the childi-en call play, because they like 
it so much, is not mechanical but intellectual and inventive, 
and serves to instruct them (under the guidance of a teacher) 
in a great many things ; for instance, in the principles of 
geometry, which they could not learn at that age in an ab- 
stract manner. Besides, these occupations are advantageous 
in making the hands skilful while they are yet supple. As 
a great many have to earn their daily bread by the skill of 
their hands, it may serve to diminish the complaint of un- 
skilful labor, and poor pay in consequence of it, if the chil- 
dren I'eceive besides book-learning, some industrial training 
that fits them for active life. Last, but not least, by the 
gymnastic plays in the Kindergarten, the physical develop- 
ment is promoted, the affections and social qualities are 
cultivated and guided. 

Everybody knows how much children love to hear stories 
related to them ; this desire is gratified likewise in the Kin- 
dergarten, and, very naturally, the desire is awakened in 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 3 

them to learn to read, in order to read stories for themselves ; 
so the little ones will, by the time they are seven years oldj 
be anxious to learn to read, and will then learn with a will ; 
but having fii'st become interested in nature and objects, and 
having learned to observe, to compare, to combine, there is 
less danger that they become book-worms, and live in a fic- 
titious world instead of a real one. Let us not deprive our 
little ones of their happy childhood, by putting them to tasks 
not only distasteful but positively injurious to them. Even 
where there is not the blessing of a true Kindergarten to do 
for them what cannot be so well done at home, it is better 
for the health of body and mind of the child not to send them 
so young to the ordinary primary schools. When the proper 
time comes, and a healthy appetite is created, the children 
will be delighted to learn what, if forced upon them too early, 
is nothing but a torment, and the title, "reading without 
tears," on primers will be unnecessary. 

Matilda H. Keiege. 



"PROEBEL'S MUTTER UND KOSE LIEDER. 

In the Januaiy number we gave a song as from Froebcl, 
which was not his, but original with the translator of those 
songs set to music by Lady Baker ; of which we have the 
manuscript scores, and which we are glad to say are now 
published in London, and we have just received them 
in this country. With them we received three original 
songs, also set to music, of which the Bump, bump, bum.p, is 
one, and a children's march, with appropriate words, another. 

In Froebel's book, the seventh plate contains the picture 
of a mother standing before her baby, who lies on a pillow 



14 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

upon a table, kicking up his little legs. She is represented 
as taking hold of his legs, and singing as she duplicates his 
movements : 

First one leg, and then the other ! 
Oh how hard to kick poor mother ! 
This is the way they tread the grape 

That purple grows on foreign soil, 
This is the way they press the rape, 

That yields the quickly burning oil, 
To keep dear mother's lamp alight 
"While watching by thee in the night. 

The plate, besides this representation of the mother's play, 
contains a department in which is represented the interior 
of an oil mill, and another department in which is a landscape, 
and on a hill there is a mill, towards which a poor woman is 
wa,lking, with a great sack of corn on her back. The stream 
that turns the mill, flows through the foi'eground, where sits 
a mother with her little family around her, playing in the 
water, upon which they have a toy mill. Froebel appends a 
note to this plate, and the song, as hint to the mother, who 
is supposed to show the picture to her children of one or two 
years of age. We translate the note : " Life, O thoughtful and 
watchful mother, is the central point of all thy feeling, sensa- 
tions, and thoughts; the point of union of all thy labors, 
strivings, and cares ; therefore both thine inner and outward 
life is blended in harmony with thy child's. Thus, thou de- 
rivest the most sincere pleasure from noting the gentle though 
gradually increasing manifestations of the life that is in him, 
and when thou seest his fii'st bodily motions, unless prejudice, 
custom or misunderstanding restrain thee, it is thy greatest 
joy to duplicate them, and so increase their strength, until at 
length thy child grows to independence of thy aid. 

" Thy child lies before thee on the snow-white pillow, in the 
strengthening morning air, having been already invigorated 
by a refreshing bath; and in the full enjoyment of health, he 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 5 

strikes out with his little arms, and kicks his little legs 
about. 

" Thy motherly love seeks to gratify the desire, nay the 
necessity, which thoii readest in this action of thy child, to 
measure the growing strength in which he now begins to 
rejoice. Thy hands and thy breast, against which he alter- 
nately kicks his little legs, not only measure but increase his 
strength. By duplicating his own motions, thou shalt at 
once nurture his bodily life, which is comparatively outward, 
and strengthen the inner life of his feelings and sensations ; 
not only through thy bodily strength shall he perceive his 
own, but he shall also become aware of thy love and inten- 
tions, borne into his soul by thy melodious rhythmical 
tones. 

" Bye and bye thou wilt make him understand (what now 
thou canst teach his little brothers and sisters, to whom thou 
canst show these pictures) how his growing and awakening 
powers have been to thee as oil, to feed the lamp of thy love. 
The little night lamp in the picture, which they may be 
made to identify with the one that during all the long nights, 
when thou hast watched over them asleep, has stood on the 
shelf, may be used as an illustration of this. As the oil, 
pressed out of the rape and flax and poppy seed, by the var- 
ious means which are used in difierent countries to extract 
it from all the oil-giving plants, so thy motherly efforts have 
been employed for the harmonious development and proper 
application of all the powers of thy children. 

" The picture of the oil mill on the left, out of one of whose 
windows may be seen the poppy and flax growing, and out 
of another the mother and child looking in, will enable thee 
to connect the flax and the poppy with the oil in the lamp ; 
and it is all the better if thou art able to show him a real 
mill. 

" Each boy and girl will receive in their own peculiar way, 
what they see and hear. In the third picture of this plate 
(seventh) is represented the mother who has led her little 



1 6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

troop into a neighboring valley, in order to make them ac- 
quainted with the all-loving, all-working power of nature. 

" Up there by the mountain spring, the boy has discovered 
a place for his miniature oil mill, so that the water may turn 
it merrily. His younger brother sits wondering by, shading 
his face with his hand from the blazing sun, that it may not 
hinder him from admiring his brother's mill. The eldest sis- 
ter seeks to attain their object by a shorter way: she wades 
with her strong little feet through the clear stream, and 
kneads the fine sand at the bottom into a substantial dyke. 

" Surrounded by her dear ones, the mother sits there reflect- 
ing how the difference in her children's characters manifests 
itself even when they are occupied in the same games. 

"In the mirror of their childish play she beholds the later 
life of all three childi-en, now so deeply intent on binding the 
power of the water ; the eldest she foretells will one day be 
led indirectly to his goal by the intellect, which he is just 
beginning to use; the maiden will come, more directly 
through her own life and actions to her goal, which she will 
hold fast in her own mind, and to the attainment of which, she 
will devote all her energies ; the younger boy will also reach 
it by searching out and examining into all the causes and 
laws of power. As within each of the playing children exists 
a rich life in the present, so the mother enjoys that life, both 
in the present and future, and also in the past. 

" For to the question : — ' Where are you going, good 
woman ? ' the poor woman toiling up the hill with her bas- 
ket, has answered : — 'I am going to the rich miller to see if 
he will give me any oil in exchange for what I bring him ; 
for my child is very ill, and I must watch the whole night 
beside him, and bread I want, too, for I can earn nothing 
now, and yet my poor little ones must eat.' By this answer, 
are recalled to the mother's mind the games that she has 
played in by-gone times with her children to improve their 
strength, and she asks herself thoughtfully : — ' Will the life 
of the children, one day reward maternal love ? ' " 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 7 

The eighth plate exhibits the action of the wind upon trees, 
on a child's kite, on a banner, on a windmill, on clothes hang- 
ing on a line, &c. Froebel's note suggests how the mother 
shall lead the child's thought, from the effects of the invisible 
wind to the inyisible Father in heaven. It also describes 
the little play with the fingers, directed by the following 
song. 

The weathercock, high ou the tower, 
Will turn in every wind and shower ! 
My darling, too, can quickly learn 
His hands in happy games to turn. 
Turn, darling, turn ! 

The ninth plate represents a mother sitting at a table feed- 
ing her baby, an empty cup, a little girl looking into her cage 
to find the canary gone, a boy in a tree looking into an empty 
nest, and other things illustrative of the song. 

All's gone, all's gone, all's gone ! 
What was here, now is there ; 
What was upper, now is under ; 
Where's his supper gone, I wonder. 

All's gone, my child, all's gone ! 

The sweet milk all is gone ! 
Oh ! where is it all gone, I say. 
The mouth has taken it away ; 
The tongue has helped it on its road. 
As down the narrow throat it flowed ; 

Though yet no tiny teeth out peep. 
From their little beds so deep, 
Now my child in health reposes, 
Brow of snow and cheek of roses ! 

Lady Bakei-'s book is edited by the celebrated composer, 
George Macfarren, who writes a genial preface. It is pub- 
lished by Wilkie, Wood, & Co., 47 Great Russell Street, 
Bloomsbury, London, W. 

We hope it will not be long before these songs, and the 



1 8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

rest, which are promised at an early day, shall be reprinted 
in this country, illustrated by Froebel's plates and notes; 
and in this hope, we shall print no more of the notes or 
songs in the Messenger. To any publisher who will do this 
desirable thing we will furnish the copy of the translation 
that we have in manuscript. 



KmDER&ARTEN INTELLIGENCE. 

On Wednesday, Febuary 18, Mr. Fhilbrick, the superin- 
tendent of the Boston schools, called a meeting at We^-leyan 
Hall, to tell the friends of the public education, and the 
teachers of the schools who might be attracted to hear him, 
what criticisms he had made, when comparing our own with 
the European systems, at the Vienna Exposition, 

It was a most important statement ; and it is a pity that 
it was not reported in full, and some adequate account given 
of the things said afterward, especially by Rev. C. C. Tiffany, 
and Mr. Eliot, president of the meeting. 

Mr. Fhilbrick was very emphatic on the point of the inferi- 
ority of the American teachers to the European ones, in 
extent and accui'acy of knowledge, and in the art of teaching. 
He said that if to our superior education hy life, after the 
school era was over, we could prefix such a foundation of 
intellectual habits, and methods of investigation, as was given 
in all the schools of Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and 
even in Russia, there was nothing that might not be expected 
of Americans ; and that the root of our difficulty is the want 
of a complete professional training of teachers. We need 
eight times as many normal schools as we have, in order to 
give even as much education as our own hest teachers now 
have, to our high school teachers, our common school teachers, 
our primary school teachers, and, (it was refreshing to hear 
him add) to our kindergarten teachei's — "we need normal 
schools," he said, " for kindergarten teaching." 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 9 

The discussion which followed ought every word of it to 
have been reported ; and all the more, because there were 
not a hundred persons present to hear it ; there was no idle 
word said, either by Mr. Philbrick, Mr. Alcott, Mr. White, 
secretary of the Board of Education, Mr. Harrington, superin- 
tendent of the New Bedford schools. Rev. C. C. Tiffany, and 
especially by Mr. Eliot, principal of the Girls' High School 
in Boston, who was President of the meeting. Mr. Tiffany, 
who has been several years in Europe, went into details to 
illustrate the superiority of all scientific teaching in Europe 
to that in America, adducing the testimony of American 
students, who after getting the best education they could 
here, at our best scientific schools, found that six months 
there with the thorough teachers at Heildelburg and other 
universities, gave more extensive and thorough instruction, 
than a year or two at our best scientific schools. 

All the speakers agreed that the difiiculty lay in the inad- 
equately-trained teachers ; and in the fact that the primary 
teachers were the most ill-trained of all, though they should 
be the best educated in every respect. Mr. Tiffany mentioned 
a gifted professor, superior in culture and ability, he thought, 
to any professor in any of our universities, whom he saw 
spending himself in instructing quite young children, opening 
their intellectual communication with nature and their race 
by means of thoroughly taught speech, the element in which 
tbe human intellect lives. 

Mr. Eliot closed the debate by suggesting as a remedy, 
that there should be founded one normal school, qualifications 
for entrance being made not inferior to the highest required 
for entering any professional school, whether of law, medi- 
cine, theology, or natural science of any kind ; and to admit 
no student who did not have the qualification, even if but 
one were admitted ; and to have the best professors of educa- 
tional art in the world devote themselves to the class, how- 
ever small, and to have the course last three years. 

He thought this would raise the profession to its proper 



20 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

rank, jonmws inter pares. Then the finest minds would under- 
take it ; and the liberality of the public to Agassiz, as he said, 
showed that the superior teacher would be acknowledged 
and sustained. 

We burned with desire to have one other speech made, 
taking hint from Mr. Tiffany's anecdote of the accomplished 
professor, who devoted himself to the education of little chil- 
dren ; and taking up what had been hinted, as to the place 
that mutual intelligent speech has, in education, at its vital 
point. But since it was not made, we must say, in these 
pages, that it is the Kindergarten which is the solution of 
this vexed question. The Kindergarten is, primarily, an 
aesthetic and moral influence, but its objective intellectual 
point is, to give children the power and wish to express 
themselves in words, with clearness, precision, and vivacity. 
If the Kindergarten education be thoroughly and faithfully 
given, according to the principle and plan of the great genius 
who discovered and formulated the science of it, every object 
in nature, every scene in life, every hooh., would become a 
luminous teacher to the child and man ; and learning and art 
would be as spontaneous as seeing and eating, for intelligent 
speech is the light of the human understanding and its life 
as well. But a Kindergarten culture, which, besides teaching 
children to trust, to hope, to love, to see with their eyes, to 
hear with their ears, and to use their hands, teaches the art 
of speaking and to understand the speech of others, — can 
only be given by adequately cultivated teachers. 

Let the length and breadth of our country be seeded with 
normal schools for kindergarteners, such as are now kept, for 
instance, by Mrs. Kraus Boelte in New York, and by Miss 
Garland in Boston, and we should have, in the course of the 
next fifty years, teachers of every grade equal to the most 
eminent jurists, theologians, medical and scientific teachers 
of every kind, and at last a generation of parents adequate 
to educating the next generation. 



KINDERGARTEN- MESSENGER. 21 



LETTEE FEOM MH. JOHN KRAI7S. 

7 Grameect Park, 

New York, Feb. 10, 1874. 
My Dear Miss Peabody : — 

Your last number of the Messenger has given me great 
pleasure on account of the translation of the Baroness Crom- 
brugghe's French version of Froebel's Education of Man. 
You desire to compare this French version with the German, 
edited by Dr. W. Lange ? I do not possess it. Perhaps you 
do not know that it was published in Berlin as late as 1863, 
whilst the French version was made in 1861. 

I would call your attention to another French work, entitled 
JO Allemagne contemporaine. The author, Edgar Bourloton, 
having been taken prisoner in the late Franco-Prussian war, 
while confined in Germany, occupied himself in studying all 
sorts of German institutions. He finds a great deal to admire 
in Germany ; among other things, the Kindergarten. "■ Noth- 
ing," says Bourloton, " is more interesting than a visit to a 
German Kindergarten." 

Your lecture in the Swedenborgian church, in October 
last, seems now to bear some fruit. Perhaps Miss Isabel 
Moore has already informed you that she will open a Kinder- 
garten in the Sunday-school room of the church, in Thirty- 
fifth Street, between Park and Lexington Avenues, on the 
twenty-third of February, although I am sorry to say her 
prospects seem not very encouraging. 

It may interest you to learn' that at the meeting of the 
Woman's Educational Society, held yesterday afternoon at 
Plympton Hall, Miss Conant read a paper on the subject of 
public Kindergarten. The paper treated of the manner of 
teaching children in the Kindergarten, as compared with the 
public school system ; and of the remarkably beneficial effect 
upon the minds and character of very young children. The 
members of the society discussed the feasibility of establish- 
ing a free Kindergarten in this city, the object of which 



22 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

should be to reclaim the waifs who are now wandering about 
the streets and growing in vice. Mrs. Kent thought some 
church in New York could be procured for the purpose men- 
tioned. This sentiment was warmly advocated. On motion, 
a committee of three, consisting of Mrs. Kent, Mrs. Dudley, 
and Mrs. Bronson, was chosen to call upon Rev. G. H. 
Hepworth, and ask permission to use the chapel of his church, 
corner of Fifty-fifth Street and Madison Avenue, for starting 
a Kindergarten. 

This is all very well, as far as it goes. It may bring the 
subject to the notice of the public. The first prerequisite is 
a true, genuine kindergartener, who must be dead in love 
with his or her profession. I do not mean to say that a kin- 
dergartener should be a "brother or sister of charity," so to 
speak, and lead a life of constant self-sacrifice. The work in 
and for the paradise of childhood is worthy of the highest 
wages in the field of humanity. But, alas! Pestalozzi, 
Froebel, and their kindred could sing a song of it ! 

Your idea of giving a list of the difierent kindergarteners 
is a good one. There are some mistakes in the last report 
of the Commissioner of Education, which I have mentioned 
at the proper time and place. You know that Miss Maria 
Fritsche never arrived at Des Moines, Iowa, to become 
principal of the Kindergarten connected with the Normal 
school. 

In regard to Michigan, it is stated that at Detroit is a 
Kindergarten school, constructed on Froebel's system. 
Another at Lansing, is formed on the same general plan, but 
" the training is somewhat varied to suit the necessities of 
the children ! " " So far the experiment has proved a com- 
plete success." The success, however, has been of very short 
duration. Some months ago, in answer to my inquiry, Mr. 
E. W. Brocker, Superintendent of Public Schools, wrote: 

" On account of our school rooms, we have been obliged to 
do away altogether with the Kindergarten system. We 
regret this very much. So far as we tried it, it satisfied 



9 

KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. . 23 

US that when properly carried out, it is productive of much 
good. The school was kept during forty weeks, thus consti- 
tuting a school year. Some of the classes were kept two and 
a half hours in the forenoons, and the same length of time in 
the afternoons. We have on hand about fifty dollars worth 
of apparatus." 

Who will buy it? Sic transit gloria rrmndi. Lansing is 
the capital of the state. On account of their school rooms, 
they have been obliged to do away with the Kindergarten 
altogether ! ! ! 

There is a Kindergarten at Detroit, connected with the 
Everett School, and conducted by Miss Richards. The num- 
ber of children is thirty-six. Another Kindergarten at 
Detroit, is connected with the German-American Seminary, 
and attended by thirty children. I am glad to say that the 
kindergartener, Miss Nelly Hahn, is competent in every 
respect. She is a graduate of Kohler's Seminary at Saxe 
Gotha. Her intention was to found a Kindergarten at St. 
Louis, but she did not find the necessary co-operation. Miss 
Susie E. Blow, a pupil of Mrs. Kraus, as you know, seems to 
have had more success. The Superintendent, Mr. W. T. 
Harris, in his official report to the Board of the Public Schools 
of St. Louis, writes : 

"December 9, 1873. 

"I am glad to be able to report the establishment of a gen- 
uine Kindergarten, in connection with our system of schools 
this year. The experiment inaugurated by your action, has 
proved remarkably successful. Under the energetic and 
sensible management of its director, Miss Susie E. Blow, it 
has already begun to show all the benefits claimed for its 
peculiar method. It lays a deep basis, in the mind of the 
child, for two widely different activities, the mathematical 
and that of the productive or inventive imagination. The 
highest class has already worked out for itself a surprising 
knowledge of number and form, even performing readily 
problems involving the manipulation of common fractions." 

Friend Bolander, Superintendent of Public Instruction in 
California, wrote me, some weeks ago, that there was no Kin- 
dergarten there as yet ; but that they had formed a Kinder- 



t 

24 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

garten Association at San Francisco, and that as soon as they 
have made up the necessary sum they would try, before all 
things, to procure a well trained, genuine kindergartener. 
Thus you see Mr. Bolander does not recognize spurious Kin- 
dergartens. 

Mrs. Alice Toomy writes : 

"I have been for many years a teacher, and much in the 
Kindergarten in Germany, and have studied the system ; so 
that I feel competent to assist iinderstandingly. At present 
I am prepared to sacrifice much, in order to teach my own 
children according to Froebel's ideas. The lady teacher that 
I have found, is Frau Herta Semler, who left Madame Froe- 
bel's training school in February, 1872," in which she was, 
(as Mrs. Froebel writes to us), only six weeks. And aside 
of this, it is to be borne in mind that studying and learning 
the system, merely, does not make the kindergartener. 

I beg leave to say that I think it is a great mistake that 
men are excluded from the early education in this country. 
In Europe it has become an acknowledged fact that Kinder- 
gartens become only a success, when men and women work 
together. And why not ? " It is not good for man to be 
alone," said the Creator, and gave to man and woman a 
joint dominion over the earth. Why should not these natu- 
ral heaven-appointed allies work together in the paradise of 
childhood ? Pestalozzi and Froebel have set an example for 
all times to come, in that direction. 

In closing, let me say, that we have sixty-five children in 
our Kindergarten, twenty-one girls and nineteen boys in the 
Kindergarten proper ; and sixteen boys and nine girls in the 
intermediate class, in which Froebel's ideas are continued, 
extended, and more completely realized, in order to secure 
their wholesome, entire growth ; for health is just the devel- 
opment of the whole nature, in its due sequence and propor- 
tions ; first the blade, then the ear, then — and not till then — 
the full corn in the ear. 

So much for to-day from 

Your sincere friend and co-worker, j. k. 



22 & 24 Trankfort St., New York, 



IMPORTS 



Kindergarten Gifts and Occupation Material, 

AND 

KINDERGAHTEN LITERATURE, 

(ENGI-ISH, FRENCH, and GERMAN.) 

ALSO FUKNISHES 

:\10RAL CULTURE OF INFANCY, and Kindergarten Guide. By Mrs. 
Horace Mann and Elizabeth P. Peabody. Witli music and words 
for a dozen plays $1.25 

THE PARADISE OF CHILDHOOD. By Mr. Edward Weibe. 4to. 74 

plates 3.00 

THE CHILD; and its relatioas to God, Nature, and Man. By Mrs. 

Matilda H. Kreige 1.00 

KINDERGARTEN CULTURE. By W. Hailman .75 

MISS HENRIETTA NOAj 

(Teacher in the Mary Institute, St. Louis, Mo.) 

Would like to take charge of some young ladies, from the middle 
of June to the middle of September, in some familj^ or at the sea-' 
shore, or in the mountains, or even for an excursion to Europe. 

She holds the best testimonials of her teaching in music, German, 
French, &c. Her address is 2739 Morgan Street, St. Louis, Mo., 
until June 11. 



(Wife of the celebrated artist,) receives young ladies into her 
family, and gives them motherly care, with instruction in German, 
French, and Italian (all of which, with English, she speaks fluently). 
Also, the best advantages in music. Terms, 260 thalers, quarterlj^; 
which is rather less than $900 a year. No extras, unless for 
travelling under her escort. For a party of ladies the terms would 
be even less. 

Her address is Immermauu Strasse 30 Dnsseldorf. 

5@" References exchanged. 

TO SUBSCRIBEItS. 

g^= If any have missed numbers hitherto, please make it known ; 
and will all who have not paid for 1874, pay now, with twelve cents 
for postage. 



l^ 



i^ 



VOL. ir. MAY, 1874. No. 5. 



A PERIODICAL OF 2i PAGES. 




mfegaiftm Jftcss^nj^r, 



EDITED BY 



ELIZABETH P. PEABODY. 



TERMS ONE DOLLAR PER TEAR, IN ADVANCE, 

Payable to the Editor, 19 Follen Street, Cambridge, Mass. 

Subscribers for 1874 can have the numbers for 1873 at half price — 
fifty cents — as long as the edition holds out. These numbers contain 
important matter that will not be repeated. 

TERMS OF ADVERTISEMENT. 

25 cents a line for short advertisements. 

15 cents a line for advertisements of 12 lines. 

Yearly advertisements as by agreement. 

Advertisements for the inside of the covers are solicited, especially 
from publishers, manufacturers of Kindergarten materials, and teachers 
of any branches of knowledge. 



m 



AMONG THE FLOWERS. 



Miss Youmans's First Book of Botany $1.00 

Miss Youmans's Second Book of Botany 1.5C 

The characteristic features of Miss Youmans's plan may be summed up as fol- 
lows: 

First. It lays the foundation for a knowledge of Botany in the only true way, b. 

providing for the actual and regular study of plants themselves. This practice it 

enforced by the plan of the books. 
Second. It provides for a systematic training in the art of observation. 
Thikd. This plan first supplies the long-recognized deficiency of object-teaching, 

by reducing it to a method, and connecting it with an established branch of 

school study. 
Fourth. The subject may be pursued by young children in the family; and any 

intelligent teacher or parent can conduct them easily through the exercises. 
Fifth. The method is entirely practical. 

Harris, Pickard, De Wolf, Snow, RickotT, Phelps, White, Apgar, Brooks, Hart, 
Bateman, Newell, and others of national reputation, have voluntarily commended 
it in unqualified terms. 

ALSO, 

HENSLOWS BOTANICAL CHARTS. 

Modified and ax^iapted for use in the United States, by Ei.izA A. Youmans. 
Price (six Charts, with a key), mounted on rollers, $18. 

One of the most attractive, interesting, and instructive accessories for the school- 
room ever publisliid. 

Sample copies of the above books, for examination, will be mailed, postpaid, to 
teachers and school officers, on receipt of one-half price. 

I>. APPIiETOJf & CO., Publishers, 

549 and 551 Broadway, New York. 

H. N. McKINNEY & CO., 

Publishers and Booksellers 

•ZS3 S^-ixsJoaaa. S»tx'e©-t, 

PHILADELPHIA, PA. 

publishes 

Lecture on the Education of ttie Kinderpfteoer, 

By Miss E. P. PEABODY. 
Sold by A. Williams, corner of Washington and School Streets, Boston. 
E. Steiger, 22 and 24 Frankfort Street, New York. 

G. P. Putnam's Sons, 23d Street and 4th Avenue, New York. 

EJSraLISH SUBSCRIBERS 

Can pay by sending post-office money orders directed to Miss Snell, 17 Straw- 
berry Bank, Strawberry Road, Pendleton, in Manchester, England. 

She will also take names of new subscribers. Trice, Five Shillings. 



g^indet^att^n ^e^^^ngjt 



Vol. II.— may, 18T4.— No. 5. 



FEOEBEL'S EDUCATION OF MAN. 

[Conclusion of the Introductory Chapter.] 

Men, the children of God, and members of the human 
race, manifest the being common to God and to humanity, 
as soon as each individual man or child manifests himself in 
the manner peculiar and personal to himself; and that 
happens every time a man develops and maii^fests himself 
according to the divine law, for this law commands wherever 
are found being and existence, the Creator and the creature, 
God and nature. 

Every man is destined to manifest himself, that is to say, 
to manifest faithfully and completely the integrity of his 
being, in union with himself, in union with a larger unity, of 
which he makes a part, from which he proceeds, and of 
which he has the germ within him. He is (Jestined to man- 
ifest his being in its diversity, that is to say, in relation with 
every thing which springs from him or happens through him. 

It is only through this triple manifestation, triple though 
still one in itself, that is exactly manifested the interior of 
each being, and that man arrives at the real knowledge of 
things. The child (that is, the man at his first appearance 
upon earth) must be interrogated and directed according to 
the nature of his being, and put in the free use of his power. 
The use of one of his members or of one of his forces, must 
not take place at the expense of another member or another 
force. The child must not be tied, bound, swathed, nor put 



2 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

into leading strings. Let him learn early to find within him- 
self the point of support for all his forces and all his limbs ; 
let him rest or move in all confidence and liberty ; let him 
learn to seize and hold objects by means of his hands, to hold 
himself up and to walk by means of his feet, to see, to find, 
to discover objects with his own eyes; in short, to use all 
his members, according to the degree of force which is un- 
folded from them. He will initiate himself in the most difii- 
cult art ; and, by degrees, he will know how to maintain 
himself in equilibrium in life; notwithstanding the perils, 
the difficulties, the obstacles, and the snares with which it is 
strown. 

The first manifestation of the child is that of force. Force 
calls for resistance, hence the child's first cry. He pushes 
with his foot the first obstacle he meets with ; he holds in 
his hand the object he has first seized ; hence the awakening 
of firmness. To this first step of development acquired by 
force, soon are joined the first indications of the development 
of another sentiment, desire of well-being ; hence the smile, 
hence the joy a child feels on finding itself in a pleasant tem- 
perature, surrounded by serenity, clear light, and freshness. 
The child then and thus begins to know himself; he acquires 
the consciousness of individual being. The first manifesta- 
tions of human life are repose and agitation, joy and pain, 
smiles and tears. The repose, the joy, the smile, are the ex- 
pression of the child's development, accomplishing itself with 
serenity and purity. To preserve the life of the child pure 
and serene, to develop his individuality in the midst of con- 
ditions of purity and serenity, should be the aim of all the 
efibi'ts of the first education. 

Agitation, pain, and tears, on the contraiy, are the expres- 
sion of all that impedes development, and education should 
tend to investigate their causes, and deliver the child from 
them. The will has nothing to do with his first agitations, 
cries, and tears. The poor little creature only moans, be- 
cause, through the negligence or the indolence of those to 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 3 

whom it is confided, it is abandoned to a painful impression 
or sensation, which agitates it and makes it suffer. When 
this sensation is imposed upon the child by caj^rice, a serious 
fault is committed, a fault whose consequences will react 
upon its author as much as upon the little victim ; for it often 
leads the latter to falsehood, dissimulation, and obstinacy. 

But be careful ! it is by small sufferings that the human 
being learns to bear greater ones, and to despise pain. If 
the parents are convinced that the child finds himself in all 
the conditions that his wants demand, and that they have 
removed every thing that could be injurious to him, they 
may sometimes leave him for a time to himself to weep a 
little, giving him time to recover himself, and find again the 
quiet and serenity he needs. 

Let them be sure that as soon as the child has shielded 
himself from some slight inconvenience by pretending to suf- 
fer, they have lost a certain influence, which they can only 
regain by some violence. This dear little being is endowed 
with such^wesse, and so much discernment to discover the 
weakness of those who surround him, that he foresees it even 
before they have had time or leisure to manifest it by their 
patience or their tolerance. 

At this stage of his development the human being is 
called the nursling, and is he not so in every sense ? To 
nourish himself is almost his only occupation, and his tears 
and smiles are connected with it. At this stage he is only a 
recipient of that which is outside of him ; he sucks, he appro- 
priates outside things to himself; and as yet he finds nothing 
within himself It is important then to his whole life, that, 
at this age, the nursling shall be nourished with nothing un- 
clean, common, false, or vile ; in a word, that he shall suck in 
nothing bad. Let the looks and the countenances of those 
who surround him be pure and serene, and inspire him with 
confidence; let the air that surrounds him be pure; the 
light that shines upon him be serene. These conditions are 
of great importance; for man struggleSj at best, through his 



4 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

whole life, against the pernicious impressions and influences 
of his earliest age. The mothers who have themselves 
nursed some of their children, and have been obliged to give 
sti'ange nurses to others, can judge on comparing the I'esults 
of the cases, of the value of these considerations. Let us ask 
mothers, and they will tell us that the first smile of the 
child is of such importance to the mother, that it appears to 
her to be less the expression of joy, gratitude, and the dis- 
covery of himself (the first smile of the child is, strictly 
speaking, only that) than the sentiment of the union that 
then is manifested between the mother and the child ; as 
later will be manifested the union between the child and the 
father ; the child and its brothers and sisters ; the child and 
the human race. 

This first sentiment of communion between the child and 
mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, of which the smile 
seems to be the first manifestation, and which proceeds from 
the intellectual union of souls; this sentiment which pre- 
cedes that of the conscious communion of all men with the 
Supreme, Invisible Being, is yet the germ, the principle, of 
all religion, of all efibrt towards the indestructible union of 
man with God. 

Let true religion, that which strengthens man against the 
dangers of life ; which supports him in the struggles and 
combats he has with himself; which delivers him from op- 
l^ression, and fortifies him against 'sorrow ; let this pure relig- 
ion come to the child's protection from the very cradle : for 
the divine action felt as yet only obscurely and vaguely, re- 
quires the peculiar care of those who surround him. Already 
the mother thinks of the eternal happiness of her child, when 
she lays him to sleep upon his little bed; and turns her 
happy and confiding eyes to Him who is in heaven, their 
common father and support. It is also a benediction that 
this mother calls down upon the life of her child, when, on 
his waking, taking him in her arms, she raises her eyes to 
God, full of gratitude for the rest which the sweet little 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 5 

creature has enjoyed, and breathes this gratitude upon the 
lips of her child, who is restored to her anew, fresh from his 
sleep. These religious acts, these mute prayers, have a 
happy influence upon the ties which unite the soul of the 
mother with that of her child. It is because mothers know 
this that they give up with regret the care of putting to sleep 
and waking their children. 

The child thus taken care of, and put to bed by his mother, 
has both earthly and heavenly rest; God has heard the 
prayer. Man reposes in God only when he has God con- 
sciously for the first term and the last end of all his actions. 

That parents may truly present God to their children as 
the first term and the last end of all their actions ; that chil- 
dren may consider such an origin and such an end as the 
most precious treasure of human life, the parents and child 
must recognize and feel each other, at the moment of prayer 
and elevation of the soul to God, in internal and external 
communion with that Supreme Being to whom they pray, 
whether in the secrecy of their homes or in the face of 
heaven and nature. 

Let no one object the age of the child, nor his difficulty in 
comprehending : the child that is truly united to its parents 
by natural ties, will unite in the aspirations of their souls ; 
not because he will comprehend the notion of prayer, but 
because he will divine it. If the religious sentiment, if his 
intimate life with God, is not developed early, he will attain 
later, only at the cost of great difficulties and painful eflTorts, 
a complete development ; while if the religious sentiment is 
cared for, cultivated, developed from its germ, it will always 
strengthen the man against the assaults and dangers of this 
life. The religious examples given by parents to their chil- 
dren in the cradle, are not barren of results, though the 
child may seem, as yet, neither to remark or to understand 
them. It is the same with all the examples which the lives 
of parents present to their children. 

If it is so desirable for the development and flowering out of 



6 KINDERGARTEN' MESSENGER. 

the religious sentiment in man, that this development should 
begin at birth, and be incessantly carried on through life ; the 
development and flowering out of his other faculties and 
sentiments need the same conditions no less. The develop- 
ment of man requires a progressive course, uninterrupted 
and free from obstacles. 

Nothing is more injurious to the development and per- 
fecting of man, than to look upon any stage of life isolated 
from the others. Let the different stages of life, known un- 
der the names of infant, little boy or little girl, young man 
or maiden, man or woman, old man or matron, form a suc- 
cessive and uninterrupted chain; let life be considered as 
only one in all its phases, presenting a complete whole; let 
the infant and the little boy not be looked upon as different 
beings from the youth and the man, to the point of losing 
sight of the truth that in the infant, the little boy, is the 
man himself in the first stages of life. And yet this grave 
error is too often reproduced amongst us, the later stages 
looking upon the earlier stages as being completely foreign to 
them, essentially different from them. The little boy no 
longer recognizes himself in the infant, and in the infant he 
does not foi'esee the little boy. The youth neither 
sees in himself the little boy, nor the infant ; nor does he 
forefeel the youth in them ; he only looks before him, and 
guides himself by means of those who preceded him : but .it 
is especially to be regretted and sorrowed over, when the 
full grown man no longer recognizes in himself the nursling, 
the infant, the little boy, the youth ; vs^hen he ceases to 
behold his life in the mirror of their existence ; and looks 
upon men, in the first stages of their life and development, 
as beings provided with quite a different nature from his 
own. 

This misconception of the uninterrupted chain, which 
intimately binds together all the stages of life, proceeds 
always from man's neglect in examining, interrogating, and 
observing his life from its origin. Unconsciously he thus 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 7 

pi;ts narrow limits to his route, and accumulates difficulties 
and obstacles, which it becomes more easy to point out than 
to avoid. 

It belongs only to a rare power of internal organization, 
to surmount obstacles which are brought into life by those 
who weave its web. Victory is then only obtained by a 
violent effort, and often only at the cost of troubles or lesions, 
which have supervened upon the development of some other 
faculty or aptitude. How many misfortunes and dangers 
would be avoided, if parents looked ui^on the child in refer- 
ence to all the stages of development he is called upon to 
pass through, without allowing him to disdain any one of 
them ! if they reflected that the complete development of 
each successive stage depends only upon the complete de- 
velopment of each of the preceding ones! And yet how 
many parents take no account of the importance of this 
observation. To them, the little boy is only the little boy ; 
the youth only the youth ; they have forgotten the infant in 
the one, the little boy in the other; and they do not con- 
sider that the little boy is a little boy, and the youth a youth 
— less because they have the age of the second stage of 
childhood and of youth, than because they have passed this, 
the first and the second stages of life. They do not observe 
that the man is less a man from the fact of having at- 
tained the age at which he is a man, than because he has 
traversed, one after another, the stages of nursling, little boy, 
and youth, by faithfully fulfilling the requirements of child- 
hood, youth, and adolescence. 

By not taking sufficient care to develop man aright, in the 
first stages of his life, we retard the march of his later edu- 
cation. This too general forgetfulness and negligence is of- 
ten the deplorable cause which turns the man aside from 
the end to which his faculties and aspirations tended. The 
child, the boy at least, ought to endeavor to be, in each 
stage of his development, what that stage requires of him. 
It is thus that eveiy stage will proceed from the preceding 



8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

one, as we see a germ burst from a bud or seed. It 
is only by completely satisfying the requirements of each 
anterior stage of development, that man can flatter himself 
that he attains a complete development of the stage that 
follows. 

What has just been said applies equally to the creative 
faculty of man, who by the work of his hands realizes the 
conceptions of his intellect ; for is it not true, that labor, 
to-day, far from presenting itself to the mind as maintaining 
and fortifying the life of man by the activity it impresses 
upon him, appears to be an overwhelming and degrading 
task under which he often succumbs ? God acts and creates 
incessantly. Each thought of God is translated by a work, 
a fact, which is a witness ; and every thought of God con- 
tains within itself a creative force which operates forever. 
Let him who is not convinced of this, contemplate Jesus in 
his life and his works ; then let him consider the life and the 
works of the human race ; and then let him enter into him- 
self and examine his own actions. 

The sjDirit of God hovers over every thing yet unformed, 
and by little and little animates it. Stones, plants, animals, 
men, receive a form or a shape, at the same time that they 
receive existence and life. God created man in his own 
likeness; he made him in his own image; therefore, man 
must act and create like God, or he ceases to be a man. 

The spirit of man hovers over objects without form, and 
animates them by giving them form, shape, the being and 
the life which he carries within himself. This is the pro- 
found meaning, the high signification, the noble end of 
human labor and creativeness. It is through our energy in 
labor ; it is through the works in which a powerful convic- 
tion animates us, that, manifesting the interior by the exte- 
rior, we give a body to spirit, a form to thought, and render 
the invisible visible; clothing what was intellectual with 
external existence. By such works, artistic and heroic, 
we truly approach God ; and it is by this approach that we 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 9 

acquire more and more the knowledge of God, and raise 
ourselves to the contemplation of His being. 

A fatal error, fatal in every respect, and which all our 
efforts should tend to do away, is the thought that man is to 
work and create only to provide for his own wants ; it is 
the thought that labor has no other end than to secure him 
bread, dwelling-place, and clothing. No ! labor is an orig- 
inal faculty of man, by which, in producing the most varied 
works, he manifests outwardly the spirituality he has re- 
ceived from God. Bread, dwelling-place, clothing, which 
labor secures to him, are superfluous, insignificant, in com- 
parison with this. Therefore, Jesus said to us, "Seek first 
the kingdom of God, and all other things" (that is, what re- 
gards temporal life), " shall be added unto you ; " and 
again, " It is my meat and drink to do the will of my Father, 
who is in heaven." '■'■ Behold the lilies of the field ! how they 
grow ! they toil not, neither do they spin ; and yet I say 
unto you, Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one 
of these!" 

Do not the lilies show forth their leaves and flowers? 
do they not proclaim the existence of God ? The birds in 
the air neither sow nor reap, but none the less they bear 
witness of the life that God gave them, whether they sing, or 
build their nests, or act out their instincts in any other way. 
This is why God nourishes and preserves them. Let man 
learn, then, by the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, 
that God requires that he manifest life by his acts and his 
creations, on which he impresses, according to their nature, 
the seal of the spirit of God, which acts within himself. Let 
man be convinced that God will open to him all the ways 
which will lead him to the end of what he undertakes to do, 
and will furnish him with the lever of creative thought more 
than if he should act only to satisfy his earthly wants. Still 
less will he fail to find, in the divine power operating within 
him, and which nothing can paralyze, a force fruitful for the 
production of the works conceived by his genius. 



10 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

All the creations of the mind appearing in successive 
order, it necessarily follows that if man has neglected — it 
matters not at what moment of his life — to produce in 
some real form his creative faculty, to utilize it to the 
profit of a great action or a beautiful work, he will sooner or 
later feel within himself a want, which will arrest him in his 
labor, or, at least, will prevent his work from being what it 
would have been, if he had used at the moment in which 
he should have done it, his creative faculty. A redoubled 
zeal and effort in the application of his activity, can alone 
repair his abandonment or forgetfulness of it for a time. 

It is necessary, then, that the human being, from his very 
earliest age, should be excited and encouraged to manifest 
his activity by production ; his very nature requires it. The 
activity of the senses and limbs of the little child is the first 
germ ; the green-bud of labor. The plays of childhood are 
gracious blossoms ; for childhood is the epoch when the zeal 
for labor and the love of it are to be made habitual. Let 
every child, in whatever position of life he may be found, be 
occujjied, at least for some hours every day, in some special 
manual labor, calculated to develop his activity. In our 
time, children are too much occupied with what is intellec- 
tual ; sufficient time is not given to labor, although nothing is 
more advantageous for their development than the instruc- 
tion they acquire by the exercise of their creative and pro- 
ductive faculty. Parents and children too often disdain and 
neglect the power of activity which is in each one of them; 
and it belongs to all true education, all serious teaching, to 
open their eyes in this respect. The actual education, given 
in the family and the school, cultivates in children idleness 
and indolence; and the germ of human power above indica- 
ted, far from being developed, is destroyed. Beside the 
hours consecrated to instruction, let there be hours devoted to 
manual labor and the development of physical force, whose 
value and dignity are too much despised. 

As external manifestation is required for religion, so also 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. II 

active labor is imperatively demanded, and at an early age, 
by the social sentiment, — for humanity. Children's activity, 
understood and exercised according to its true signification, 
confirms and elevates the religious sentiment. Religion, 
unaccompanied by activity and labor, is exposed to serious 
dangers, to almost complete inefficacy ; as labor, without 
religion, makes of man a brute or a machine. Labor and 
religion, then, are inseparable- They proceed from each 
other. 

May this truth be recognized by all men ! May it be the 
motive power of their lives I Then, to what perfection may 
not the human race attain? Nothing is more worthy of 
attention than this observation. The life which presents 
these three conditions, religion, labor, and order, is the image 
of earthly paradise, in which reigned peace, joy, grace, and 
holiness. 

Let us, then, in the infant consider the man ; in infancy 
let us consider, at once, the infancy of humanity and of the 
man ; in the plays of infancy, let us consider also the germ 
of the creative faculty, for it is necessary, in order to devel- 
op both the individual and humanity (the human race), that 
he should be looked at from infancy as a unity, as a person- 
ification of humanity. But as the larger unity may be rep- 
resented by lesser unities, as humanity is revealed by 
successive and mutual manifestations; it follows, also, that the 
world and life, considered as unities, developing themselves 
in their successive order, the forces, the dispositions, the 
activity of the limbs and the senses of the infant must be 
developed according to the order in which they shall present 
themselves to him and in him. We will, therefore, first con- 
sider the case of the nursling. 



12 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

GENUINE ■ KIMDERGARTENS. 

We have been asked what, in our conception, constitutes 
a genuine Kindergarten ? 

We begin our reply by saying what it is not. A genuine 
Kindergarten is a company of children under seven years 
old, who do not learn to read, write, and cipher; nor to 
study objects unconnected with their own conscious life. 

It is an organization of children's activities by symbolic 
plays and production of forms, first transient, afterwards 
more permanent, but always fanciful ; in which forms, and 
the simple materials of which they are niade, are the first 
objects of their study. Next come flowers, which they are 
taught to plant and take care of. 

A genuine Kindergarten is a place for development, not 
for instruction in things outside of child-life. A Kindergai'- 
ten and a school have different objects, and a corresponding 
difference of method. In a Kindergarten, children are 
guided to discover order ; order is not imposed on them, as, 
to a certain degree, is necessary in a school, especially when 
kindergarten culture has not preceded the school. When it 
has gone before, there will be no necessity for imposing 
order arbitrarily on the scholar; for he will willingly, if not 
spontaneously, obey all reasonable rules. And this suggests 
the answer to another question that has been asked : Is it 
possible to give adequate education to a kindergartener by 
taking her into a Kindergarten as an apprentice ? Ordina- 
rily, it is not. Children and circumstances are so different, 
that the cleverest imitation will not meet the various cases. 
It is necessary to know the constant that underlies all the 
various processes, and this is invisible except to the instructed 
eye ; and to be a genuine kindergartener requires something 
deeper than observation of the individualities of children, 
which are comparatively superficial; a knowledge of the 
universal laws of thought, revealed by things, and of the 
laws of moral and spiritual life, revealed by the history of 
the human race, and the lives of remarkable individuals, 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 3 

pre-eminently of the life of Christ on earth, no less than of 
the processes derived from Froebel's pnnciples, by which 
children may be made to know these principles and joyfully 
obey these laws. This study is most successfully pursued 
by ladies in a class, and it is rather rare for an individual to 
combine the talent for teaching children in a Kindergarten, 
with that for teaching adult minds, as the two parties re- 
quire different modes of illustration. These talents are, 
however, combined in Miss Garland, and in Mrs. Kraus Boelte, 
as all their pupils enthusiastically testify. Madame Kriege 
also thought her pupil. Miss Snelling, competent to train, and 
suggested that she should be called upon to undertake the 
training school in Boston, if Miss Garland did not conclude 
to do so. She had had, like Miss Garland, years of experi- 
ence beforehand in teaching young ladies, as well as children ; 
an advantage that Mrs. John Ogden has also had, who has lately 
opened a training school in Columbus, Ohio. Previous 
teaching, in their case, had not stereotyped the old routine, 
but had served to open their eyes to its defects. 



TESTIMONY OF ANOTHER OCTOGENARIAN TO THE NEW 
EDUCATION. 

The excellent impi-ession in favor of our cause, made by 
the letter of the venerable Mr. Austin, published in our 
January number, induces us to publish the copy of one 
which we have received, addressed to the Rev. William 
Sparrow, D. D., by- the late Hon. N. P. Trist ; a gentleman 
of highest reputation in public and private life, who has 
recently died at an age between eighty and ninety, at 
Alexandria, Va. 

This gentleman wrote to us, at the time we published 
"The Artist and Artisan Identified," inquiring for a kinder- 



14 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

gartener to be a governess for his grandchildren. At the 
moment, we could not supply his need; but when Miss 
Hooper, who kept the first Kindergarten attempted in Wash- 
ington, D. C, was obliged to relinquish on account of failing 
health, Mr. Trist called upon her, and asked her to come 
into his family. She told him she was too ill to undertake 
any duty ; and at that time doubted (as she said in a letter 
to me) whether she might not die in a week. But Mr. 
Trist urged her to go with them to the Springs in Virginia, 
to pass the summer, and perhaps get well enough to take 
the charge in the fall. She accepted his sympathizing kind- 
ness, and has lived with himself and his accomplished wife 
(one of the Randolphs) ever since ; recovered her health, and 
every day receives his grandchildren to be taught the 
Froebel occupations and plays. 

When I made my venture of the Kindekgakten Mes- 
SENGEE I sent a copy of the May number to Miss Hooper ; and 
received in reply subscription for five sets of the Messenger 
and a long and interesting letter from Mr. Trist, which was 
a tower of strength to my heart and purpose. That letter I 
cannot print, but I feel less scruple in giving this one, which 
is so worthy a tribute to Froebel's idea and system : 

Dear Sir, — In the hope that it will excite your interest in 
what, to my mind, is the grandest of all the conceptions of 
the human mind in my own day and generation, I take the 
liberty to ask of you a perusal of the accompanying " Kin- 
dergarten Messenger, No, 1," edited by Miss E. P. Peabody, 
whose whole soul is wrapped up in the cause. This first 
number is published at her expense, in the hope of its earning 
for itself adequate pecuniary support : a hope the failure of 
which I do nut allow myself to believe among things possible. 
Coupled with sanitary reform, Froebel's idea, carried out in 
practice, is destined to achieve results, as to the progress of 
genuine Christianity, the bare thought of which would have 
made the heart of St. Paul leap for joy. 

With great respect, yours, truly, 

N. P. TRIST. 
Alexandria, Va., May 15, 1873. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 5 

GLIMPSES OF PSYCHOLOGY- NO 5. 

Conscience is the union of the operations of heart and 
mind. Its soundness and reliability are in proportion to 
their harmony. The heart has an instinctive feeling of 
universality of relation as the deepest law of being, that is, 
a sense of the common humanity. Conscience is, therefore, 
never livelier than in infancy, when the heart is unsophisti- 
cated. 

But it is not merely /ee^m^y conscience is also mental 
operation^ and its reliability, as a guide of action in the 
conduct of life, depends on the development of the under- 
standing, which gives the pei'ception of our individual relations, 
and personal responsibilities. History shows us the crimes 
against humanity that the blind or unenlightened or perverted 
conscience has perpetrated. "The light from heaven," as 
Burns calls the blind heart's impulses, has " led astray " those 
who have omitted to worship God " with the understanding 
also." 

A good, sound, reliable conscience, is, therefore, a matter 
of education, though education cannot create the feeling 
that raakes thought, moral sentiment. Those do not have 
it who do not worship God with all the mind, as well as all 
the heart and strength ; any more than those have it who 
worship with intellect and might, and not with heart. The 
latter, indeed, go farthest astray. 

Let the kindergartener study this subject profoundly. 
Nothing so surely destroys natural conscience as artificial 
duties ; and some real duties may become virtually artificial, 
and therefore demoralizing, by being arbitrarily and prema- 
turely imposed. 

The conscience of a little child is largely sympathy with 
its mother, or whoever supplies the mother's place; and 
therefore the mother or kindergartener should have an en- 
lightened, natural conscience of her own, and not substitute 
conventionalisms, expediences, mere inherited customs, for 
the directions of conscience in her own case. 



1 6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

I know of no book on Conscience, that I can recommend 
to the student, equal to the late Professor F. D. Maurice's 
Nine Lectures to the Students of Cambridge University, Eng- 
land, published in one volume under the title " Conscience," 
and which ought to be in a cheap American edition, accessi- 
ble to all. * 

It begins with a definition of the word I^ the scope of 
whose meaning is of vital moment ; and then comes an analy- 
sis of the sentence I ought, and its discrimination from I will: 
terms found in all languages. He proceeds with a masterly 
examination of the various moral systems; and an apprecia- 
tion of their authors, who are generally superior to their sys- 
tems ; and has chapters on Socrates' demon and Marcus Aure- 
lius, making his reader the companion of his own study of the 
subject in all its bearings, (which is his characteristic method) 
so that to read his books is a discipline of his readers in 
the Socratic way; and will prepare a kindergartener's mind 
especially for her responsible work, by casting out of her the 
Satan of dogmatism. There is no writer to whom less jus- 
tice can be done by extracts than to Maurice. But the 
following passages are characteristic and suggestive of his 
method, and to the point of our article. 

" There is an order in which I am placed, a real order, not 
an imaginary one, — not an order which might be desirable, 
but one which exists. I am certainly a son, I am a brother, 
I am a citizen ; perhaps I am a husband, perhaps I am a 
father. And if the enjoyment of any pleasure, or the avoid- 
ance of any pain leads me to acts which are inconsistent 
with any of these positions, my conscience says J ought not 
to enjoy that pleasure, I ought not to avoid that pain. Let 
the enjoyment or the avoidance be as natural as it may, it 
involves a departure from the order in which I am placed." 

"Obligation to an order or constitution may not sound 
very practical language. Translate it as quickly as you 

* It can be had at MacMillan's, Bleecker Street, New York, in the English edi- 
tion. 



KINDERGARTEN- MESSENGER. 1/ 

please into obligation to fathers and mothers and sisters and 
brothers, to a wife, to your country ; change as soon as you 
will the long word obligation, into the shorter, homelier word 
duty, ***** the mother tongue is always sweeter, 
often more distinct and definite than the tongue of philoso- 
phers. And happily, when we speak oi persons we cannot 
forget the affections which we have for them. ***** 
But there is danger of treating these affectioils as if they 
created the order which calls for them. If we fall into that 
mistake, the affection will become merely a part of our 
pleasures or pains. As long as we like a person, we shall 
suppose we are bound to him ; our dislike will dissolve the 
tie. We shall live in a circle of what are called, in the cant 
of our day, elective affinities ; the grand old name of Relations 
will be treated as obsolete. That you may escape this dan- 
ger, I dwell upon the fact that we are, in an order; that 
relations abide whether we are faithful to them or neglect 
them : and that the conscience in each one of us affirms, I am 
in this order ; I ought to act consistently with it, let ray fan- 
cies say what they please." p. 49. 

It is obvious if the above is true, that Froebel's kindergar- 
ten method is the best preparation of children for apprecia- 
ting moral order, when their understanding shall be suffi- 
ciently advanced ; because the affections, which the persons 
of those they love inspire, are spontaneous, and of the nature 
of those sentiments which spring unbidden at the sight of 
beauty, and are the guides of their aesthetic plays. The 
movement plays and aesthetic occupations of the kindergar- 
ten have habituated them to the observance of order on the 
aesthetic plane. As they have played art, they now play 
morality, which brings social joy. 

In fine, children are born into a spiritual order, an aesthetic 
and intellectual order, and a moral order, all of which " abide ;" 
and they become acquainted with them by acting according 
to their laws, suggested by those who are supervising them. 
To do the kind thing, gradually makes them generous and 



1 8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

loving; to do the useful and beautiful thing, gradually 
makes them intellectual and artistic; to think of God as 
giving them their thoughts of order, and their feelings of 
beauty, love, and joy, gradually makes them religious ; and 
to be addressed and guided, instead of manipulated and 
peremptorily commanded, makes them respect themselves as 
causes, and become consciously spiritual. 

The Socratic method, which is most intelligibly set forth 
in the dialogue with Meno, * is the true one for the elimina- 
tion of aesthetic and moral, as well as of mathematical truth. 
Neither of these kinds of truth could be conveyed to the 
mind from without. All truth is already in the human being 
in a general form, only as yet unrecognized and unnamed, 
and so not vivified. To see moral truth is a recognition of 
that cognition of God which developes the individual fully 
into a person, as was suggested in our last article, when 
speaking of Gioberti's ideas. The supreme act of the per- 
ceptive nature is understanding ; the supreme act of the es- 
thetic nature is artistic genius ; all acts of the moral nature 
(or conscience) are sweet, generous, or heroic ; the supreme 
acts of conscience being sanctity and heroism, even unto 
death. 



To our list of kindergarteners we would add the names of 

Miss Isabella I. Moore, who has begun a Kindergarten in 
the parlor of the Swedenborgian Church, Thirty-fifth Street, 
New York, between Park and Lexington Avenues. 

Mrs. J. P. Marcellus, 101 Warren Street, Syracuse, New 
York. 

Miss Priscilla Hadyn has left Waterbury, Connecticut, to 
resume her Kindergarten in Somerville, Massachusetts. 

* Bohn's edition of translations of Plato can be found in every large library. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 9 

Miss Mattie Stearns has given up her class at Dr. Miller's, 
in Fitchburg, and taken a Kindergarten, gathered for her in 
better conditions of locality, rooms, &c., at Framingham, 
Mass. 

Mrs. John Ogden, of Columbus, Ohio, has removed from 
East Long Street to 31 North Fifth Street, and commenced a 
training class, for the five summer months, on the 15th of 
April. We regret that we did not know of this project in 
time to announce it beforehand. 

Miss Alice Matthews has her Kindergarten at Yarmouth 
Port (not Point), Mass. 

We cut from a Washington paper an account of a visit to 
Miss Marwedel's Kindergarten, 1313 K Street. 

" One of our reporters, really anxious to know the meaning 
of this foreign word " Kindergarten," visited Miss Marwedel's 
and inquired : 

" Does it really mean a garden for children ? " 

This really eminent teacher replied enthusiastically and 
emphatically : 

" Yes, indeed. In Germany nobody thinks of opening a 
Kindergarten without a garden attached to it ; but in this 
country, strange as it seems to be, where countless thousands 
are spent in palatial schoolhouses, nobody thinks that chil- 
dren, the young, tender plants of humanity, need the con- 
stant contact with nature in a still greater degree than of- 
fered by public streets and rows of houses. But Kindergarten 
means more than this, it means the ground into which deep 
philosophical thoughts are planted to develop all mental, 
moral, and physical capacities of the young human being ac- 
cording to the true laws of natui-e." 

This short conversation excited our curiosity to look some- 
what more into this subject, and hence our visit to the 
German -American Kindergarten of Miss Emma Marwedel, 
No. 1313 K Street, which we are sorry to see (and much to 
the regret of Miss Marwedel,) is also without a garden as yet, 
but fortunately opposite Franklin Square, and with a large lawn 



20 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

in front, where we had the opportunity of witnessing the 
physical exercises and listening to the recitations and to the 
various Froebel kindergarten songs, with their gymnastic 
movements in the open air. Entering the spacious rooms, 
we found about forty children from 3 to 9 years of age, all 
mth bright intelligent faces which showed at once that they 
belonged to the families of our best citizens. The beautiful 
sunlight shed its halo over the happy little ones, who with 
loving and eager attention followed their accomplished kin- 
dergarten teacher. Miss Susie Pollock, who although born in 
this country studied the system in Germany. 

It would take too long to describe the mental and physi- 
cal discipline with which the twenty different kindergarten 
occupations are executed to the greatest delight of those 
children who enter for the first time the wide field of com- 
binations of forms of beauty leading to execution and art. 
Nevertheless, we confess, thinking no doubt with many others 
that this was all which is comprehended in the kindergar- 
ten system, we found the elementary instruction and even 
drawing a part of every day's exercises (and as an examj)le 
that these branches are by no means neglected I would 
state that a young girl of seven years of age, who entered 
the school six weeks ago, not knowing one of the letters 
even, now reads quite well, and also prints nicely). The 
exercises in German are taught like all others, and also the 
system of object teaching ; and we were sui-prised at the 
distinctness and apparent ease with which these young 
tongues treated the harsh foreign language in songs. After 
all these favorable impressions we were anxious to know to 
whom of the dear little ones would belong the honor of 
being called the best and most obedient pupil, but both the 
teachers present declined to make a choice, as all of the 
pupils, though differently gifted, had tried faithfully to do 
their best since they entered school. We soon saw that we 
had found something different from the common school rou- 
tine. It seemed more like a home, with a family relation 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 21 

between the children and the teachers, or, as it is called in 
Germany, a "bridge between the house and the school," and 
we asked ourselves if it were not possible to keep up the 
same spirit between teacher and child in more advanced 
schools. Why then should we not try to perfect and remodel 
our splendid public school system by and through Froebel's 
now universally-tried kindergarten system?" 

Miss Marwedel, in a letter to us just received, says that 
her kindergartener, Miss Susie Pollock, studied in Berlin at 
an institution where, besides the five lady teachers (one of 
whom, Miss Krueger, was personally a pupil of Froebel) 
who taught Froebel's occupations, plays, songs, and drawing, 
there were four gentlemen professors : M. C. Luthei', of sci- 
ence of education ; Dr. Ruaroth, of mathematics ; Dr. Loew- 
enslein, of physiology and gymnastics ; T. Moore, of sing- 
ing; H. Handel, of natural philosophy, history, and science; 
and that she studied the practice in six different Kinder- 
gartens; that Madame Marenholtz examined her very 
strictly several times, taking no exceptions to her but that 
she was "educated under Jewish influences," and offering 
her free tuition at her school " to become a Christian again." 
But Miss P. told her she was brought up a Christian, and 
there were only two Jewish teachers in the school, who 
never attempted to influence her religious views, and could 
not have done so had they tried. 

Miss Marwedel speaks of the imperfection of our Ameri- 
can training schools, in not giving instruction in anything 
but the science and art of Froebel. But she' does not realize 
that our high and public schools give an excellent education 
in mathematics, natural philosophy, and science, and all 
other English branches ; also in Latin and French and Ger- 
man ; and the idea of our Kindergarten training schools is 
to take only thoroughly educated pupils of these high schools 
and teach them Kindergarten lore and art. 

Miss Marwedel's own school attempts to carry out the 
whole edueation in one institution, beginning with Kinder- 



22 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

garten, and proceeding into artistic and industrial instruction, 
and involving scientific. But our especial interest is in the 
Kindergarten part, which we trust and believe will never 
be sacrificed, since Miss Marwedel knows so well that it is 
the green bud of the whole. In most instances the division 
of labor is to be made, and the Kindergarten kept apart and 
separate from the other stages, by having a locality of its own, 
and separate apartments. Seldom is one person adequate 
to superintend the whole course of education. 

Miss Marwedel also speaks of the desirableness of contin- 
uing the characteristic method of Froebel into the later 
stages of education, after children are seven years old, and 
eveii until they go into the university and practical life. 
Doubtless Froebel's suggestions are invaluable with regard 
to all stages of education, and his methods admirable. But 
we have believed that the first point for Americans to make, is 
the Kindergarten, which precedes and underlies all stages of 
education, and whose objective aim being to prepare in the 
children the scientific mind, as well as artistic hand, and gen- 
eral healthful development of mind and body, they can go 
into the schools, one grade after another, and get the whole 
advantage of our methods of science, and our splendid appai*- 
atus for instruction, by carrying the Froebel method with 
them into the later schools. It is unquestionable that if the 
Froebel Kindergarten is made the preparatory stage of our 
education, all our schools will become more artistic and in- 
dustrial, in which characteristics they are defective now. 

But we rejoice in Miss Marwedel's success in Washington 
with her Kindergarten, and the industrial and artistic schools 
she builds up upon it. She has eighty-five pupils. Froebel 
did certainly speak of education for all ages, though he 
averred that the era between the mother's arms and the 
primary schools of instruction was the most impoi'tant of all ; 
and he devoted the last years of his life to its complete elab- 
oration, feeling that it was the vital point. It is also the 
fresh ground for Americans to work upon, since ^t has been 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 23 

hitherto untouched by the public school authorities, and 
therefore there is opportunity for doing the right thing,, 
where the right thing will tell most powerfully on all the 
subsequent stages. 



We are sori'y to be obliged to defer, until our June num- 
ber, " A day in Mrs. Kraus-Boelte's Kindergarten." There 
is no argument for a Kindergarten so good as the sight of 
such a success as Mrs. Kraus-Boelte's, who says, in a letter 
first published in the Americanische Schulzeitung, of Septem- 
ber, 1871 (and which is quoted in an article of the Woman's 
Jonraal, of this last April 4, that gives some account of her 
career;, " My next future and field of activity will be in 
America, in order to become a co-worker in the great educa- 
tional work there, and thus Miss E. P. Peabody's wish will 
be realized. The best advocates for the cause will be the 
little ones, and Kindergartens will further more than any 
thing the intended normal class, or school for kindergarten- 
ers. And if one such normal class has been founded, the 
holy fire of true enthusiasm for this foundation of all and ev- 
ery education will soon be spread far and wide; and the 
blessing of the true Kindergarten thus be carried straight 
into home and family. The aim and means of Froebel's 
Kindergarten are so thoroughly and truly according to 
nature that success cannot fail, if practice and true under- 
standing go hand in hand." 

We have also a "Day in Miss Garland's Kindergarten," 
but must defer it to next month, when we shall be able to 
give a report, also, of the closing exercises, and exhibition of 
work done by her normal class, which will take place May 21, 
in the vestry of the Rev. Dr. James Freeman Clarke's church, 
probably. But it will be definitely stated where, in the 
Evening Transcript, a day or two beforehand. 

On February 24, the Evening Transcript published a charm- 
ing article by one of the mothers of the Kindergarten kept 
by Miss Rust, 113 Pembroke Street; and in the Globe, of 
April 16, was an interesting description of a day in the public 
Kindergarten kept by Miss Symonds, corner of Somerset and 
Allston Streets, which is open for inspection to everybody 
always, between 9 and 12 o'clock. 



24 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

We have just received the folio whig letter from 

St. Louis, Missouri, April 9, 1874. 

Everybody is delighted with Miss Blow's Kindergarten, and 
all that her nice little children have done in the short time ; 
and with Miss Timberlake, who now has learned Froebel's 
system of Miss Blow, partly by assisting in the Kindergarten 
all winter, and who will soon open a Kindergarten in another 
part of Carondolet. Also St. Louis is soon to have a Kin- 
dergarten. All the wards of the city will, I think, be gradu- 
ally provided with one. But I hear to my regret, that the 
teachers will be too hard worked. One and the same kinder- 
gartener is to be occupied with the Kindergarten during the 
morning ; then, at noon, have one hour's rest ; and begin the 
afternoon with another class of children. No teacher can 
stand so much work. To the kindergartener is necessary the 
influence of the home, the love of the parents, and much 
sympathy and rest. It is the necessity of the youngest chil- 
dren to demand most of the soul. The system of Froebel is : 
to give the whole soul, with all its fervor of love and strength 
and thought, to the children. A kindei-gartener expends 
more strength than any other teacher; she must, therefore, 
have much more rest ; she must have also the interest of the 
mothers ; and intercourse with all the hearts and heads, and 
social sources, which can renew her exhausted strength. 
The outflow has gone from her to the children, in her work 
with them and for them ; the inflow must come from the 
great sympathy which surrounds, nurses, and gives her repose. 

HENRIETTA NOA. 



Just as our last copy is going to the press, we hear from Mrs. 
Kraus that her connection with Miss Haines is broken, as 
that lady does not think the interests of her establishment 
harmonize with what Mrs. Kraus feels is necessary to the 
simplicity of the Kindergarten. Mrs. Kraus-Boelte will re- 
main, however, at No. 7 Gramercy Park till July 1, and 
will be glad to see any one who has interest in the continua- 
tion of her kindergarten work, to do justice to which she 
finds she must work in entire independence. She wishes to 
make her own arrangements with parents, and for normal 
students. 



VOL. II. 



JUNE, 1874. 



No. 6. 




A PERIODICAL OF 24 PAGES. 



'^inicrpiiten W^sseng^r, 



EDITED BY 



ELIZABETH P. PEABODY. 



TERMS ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR, IN ADVANCE, 

Payable to the Editor, 19 FoUen Street, Cambridge, Mass. 

Subscribers for 1874 can have the numbers for 1873 at half price — 
fifty cents— as long as the edition holds out. These numbers contain 
importont matter that will not be repeated. 

TERMS OF ADVERTISEMENT. 

25 cents a line for short advertisements. 

15 cents a line for advertisements of 12 lines. 

Yearly advertisements as by agreement. 

Advertlsements for the inside of the covers are solicited, especially 
from publishers, manufacturers of Kindergarten materials, and teachers 
of any branches of knowledge. 



mas. krjUuS'BOelte 

will continue her Kindergarten work in New Yorli City, assisted 
by Professor Kraus, with an Intermediate Class, a Mother's Class, 
and a Training Class for teachers, beginning October 1, in a loca- 
tion that will be designated hereafter. Address Mrs. Kraus-Boelte, 
No. 7 Gramercy Park, New York, until July 1. 

FLOWER OBJECT LESSONS, 

rOK THE KINDERGAKTEI^. 

A FAMILIAK DESCRIPTION OF A FEW FLOWERS 
From the French of M, FMM. ZiE MAOJJT. 

Translated by Miss A. L. PAGE. 

This little work of 55 pages, illustrated by 47 wood cuts, has been 
translated lor the purpose of placing within the reach of those in- 
terested in object teaching a manual that is most admirably adapted 
for the purpose, and is offered to parents and teachers with the 
beliel that it fully supplies a gap in the literature of our country. 

Furnished at retail by the translator (Miss A. L. Page, Dauvers, 
Mass.), and by the Naturalists' Agency, at 75 cents a copy, 
in cloth binding. Sent by mail on receipt of retail price. 

The Trade_ svpplied on usual terms by 

THE IVA^TUrSAXuISTS' AGE]VCY, 

SALEM, MASS. 



" I have no doubt that it ia a great advance upon former botanies for beginners; 
and, for tlie older chil.hen of tlie kindergartens, say fi-om five to seven, would be 
liiglily ufieful. The little boolt * * ouglit to be followed by a translation of the 
whole work." — 3Iadam Keiitge, to the translator. 

" We wish Miss Page's little book in the hands of all parents as well as teachers, 
that they may read it, and learn wliat real teaching ought to be."— Prof. P.M. 
Van Der Weyde, In ' The Manufacturer and Builder.' 



LEOPOLD NOAj 

Late Professor of Modern Languages at the Washington University 
of St. Louis, Mo., is open to engagements for teaching them, and for 
fitting pupils for universities in the Classical Languages also. 

Spontaneous testimonials of his abilities as teacher from distin- 
guished persons in London — Robert Browning, the poet; Sir Henry 
Thompson, the great surgeon; Mr. Charles Macauley; and other 
gentlemen, whose children were his pupils — are in the hands 
of Miss Peabody, 19 FoUen Street, Cambridge ; copies of which are 
at Wdliams's Bookstore, corner of School and Washington Streets, 
Boston. 



indftptt^tt ^^isis^ttg^t. 



Vol. II. — JUNE, 1874.— No. 6. 



THE NURSLING. 

[Translated from Froebel's Education of Man.] 
CHAPTER I. 

At first, it seems to the infant, that the external world is 
one with itself. The two are confounded in one chaos. 
Later, the speech of the mother makes it distinguish the 
objects of the external world from itself; and afterwards she 
re-establishes the connection which exists between them and 
itself, the child having now recognized in itself, a being per- 
fectly distinct from the objects in the midst of which it moves. 
Thus, what took place at the creation {debrouillement) of the 
universe ("in the beginning" according to the affirmation 
of our sacred books) is renewed in the soul and intelligence 
of every man, by the development of his own consciousness, 
and in his own experience, viz., — man, having appeared in 
Eden, found and recognized himself as perfectly distinct from 
nature. It is by this fact, which is renewed in every man, 
that individual moral liberty and reason are manifested, as 
was originally the reason of the human race considered as 
one collective being created for liberty. 

Therefore, let every created being, who would analyze, 
comprehend, and know himself, interrogate, in the first place, 
the history of the development of humanity down to our own 
time, and the general aim and tendency of its efibrts, after- 
wards ; let him consider his own life, and that of others who 
compose the society within his observation, in their whole 



2 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

scope, each being developed according to divine and immu- 
table law. In this way he will comprehend the history of 
the development of humanity and of himself, in one and the 
same glance. The histoiy of his own life will make him un- 
derstand that of humanity ; the history of humanity will give 
him an understanding of the manifestation of his own being, 
that is, the history of his heart, his soul, and his mind. The 
history of humanity alone, can make a mother completely 
understand the wants, the faculties, and the aspirations of 
her child. 

To render exterior what is interior, interior what is exte- 
rior; to find and manifest the union that exists between 
them, is the duty of man. To fulfil this duty, he must know 
each object not only in its essence, but in its affiliation with 
other beings. This is why he is endowed with senses, the 
instruments by which he recognizes things and their proper- 
ties ; for the word sense, (in German sinn) expresses the act 
of spontaneously rendering interior an exterior thing. 

A man knows every being, and every thing, when he com- 
pares them to the beings and things which are in contrast to 
them ; and when he discovers the union, harmony, and con- 
formity of all beings and things with their own kind (in short, 
when he perceives their resemblances and difierences). He 
will know beings and things the more perfectly, the more he 
shall have found their connection with their opposites, and 
their accord with their likes (leurs semhlables.) 

The objects of the external world appear to man in a state 
or under forms, more or less fixed, fugitive, or volatile. It is 
to be in correspondence with their fixity, their fugitive nature, 
or their etherization, that we are provided with different senses. 
All objects being movable or immovable, visible or invisible, 
solid or serial, it was necessary that our sensorium should be 
divided into separate organs. The senses that apprehend 
aerial bodies are sight and heai-ing ; taste and smell take cog- 
nizance of volatile bodies; touch, of fixed bodies. 

It is by their contrasts that the child acquires knowledge 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 3 

of things. From the time that the sense of hearing is devel- 
oped, and soon after the sense of sight, it is easy for parents, 
or those who surround the child, to establish a connection of 
objects and their contrasts with speech, so that the word and 
the object, the sign and the object, shall be thereafter only- 
one thing to the child, who is thus brought, first to the intui- 
tion, and later to the knowledge of the being or thing. * 

In the measure that the senses of the child develop, devel- 
opes also the use of its limbs, according to their nature and 
the properties of the external world. 

The immobility and the proximity of objects are in relation 
to {entretiennent) the immobility of the body of the infant. 
The more movable and distant from him objects are, the 
more the child who wishes to seize them feels excited to 
move. The desire to sit or lie down, to walk or jump, to 
touch or embrace an object, provokes the child to use his 
limbs. The action of standing erect alone, is a capital one for 
him ; it is the discovery of the centre of gravity of his body, and 
the use of the multiplicity of his limbs. The equilibrium of 
the body obtained, will be for that age as significant a step 
in progress as was the smile of the nursling, and as will be 
the moral and religious equilibrium acquired by the man, 
even to the last stage of his development. 

It does not follow, however, that at this first stage of his life 
the child will make perfect use and profit of his body, its limbs, 
and senses. This use, as yet, seems indifferent to him ; but 
by degrees he feels himself attracted to thrust out his feet 
and his hands, to move his lips, his tongue, his eyes, and his 
whole countenance. 

But all these motions of the limbs, and these plays of the 
countenance, have not for conscious object yet, the repro- 
duction of the interior by the exterior, a reproduction which 
takes place, properly speaking, only in the following stage. 



* Intuition here seems to mean sensuous impression, and knowledge the result of 
intended perception. — Tr, 



4 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

But let not the maternal vigilance sleep. These playful 
movements are to be carefully watched by her, but there 
must not be established by their means a separation between 
the exterior and interior, the body and mind. That would 
lead the child gradually into hypocrisy, or into habits of 
grimacing, of which he could not rid himself when he became 
a man. 

Let the infant, then, from the earliest age, even when in 
his bed or cradle, never be long abandoned to himself^ with- 
out some object offered to his activity; for bodily idleness 
and effeminacy necessarily engender intellectual idleness and 
effeminacy. To escape this danger, let the child's bed be 
composed of cushions stuffed with fern or hay, straw or hair, 
never of feathers ; and let him be lightly covered, and always 
exposed to the influence of pure air. To avoid the effemina- 
cy of mind produced by too complete abandonment of the 
infant to himself, especially after his waking from sleep, there 
may be suspended, opposite his cradle, a cage containing a 
bird, the sight and song of which may occupy the activity of 
the child's senses and mind, by an agreeable distraction of his 
attention from himself 

At this moment of the development of the activity of the 
senses of the body, and its members, in which the child seeks to 
manifest spontaneously the interior to the exterior, the first de- 
gree of the development of man, that of the nursling ends, and 
another degree begins. 

Up to this period the interior of the child was only an in- 
articulate and simple unity. With the arrival of speech, 
begins at once the exterior manifestation of the interior of 
man and of the multiplicity of his being; for while the inte- 
rior was organizing itself, he endeavored to manifest himself 
outwardly in a certain fixed manner. Now, the development, 
the spontaneous manifestation of man's interior by his own 
forces, will have place, making a second stage of develop- 
ment. 



KINDER GAR TEN MESSENGER, 



GLIMPSES or PSYCHOLOGY. 

We have given a few hints by way of answering the ques- 
tions on psychology, which must come up, to be considered 
by a kindergartener who is intent on understanding the 
"harp of a thousand strings," from which it is her duty to 
bring out the music. 

We have found that the human being comes into the world 
with an sesthetic nature, which is to be vivified by the pre- 
sentation of the beauties of nature and art, in such a way 
as to ensure reaction of the will in creations of fancy : for 
only so, can sensibility to beauty be jDrevented from degen- 
erating into sensuality. If the fancy remains wholly subjec- 
tive, it loses its childish health and leads astray. It should 
have objective embodiment in song, dance, and artistic manip- 
ulation of some sort. Now, artistic manipulation of any kind 
necessitates the examination of natural elements; and the 
discovery of the laws of production, which are, of course, 
identical with the organic laws of nature that bear witness 
to an intelligent Creator. 

To excite the human understanding to appreciate names, and 
classify things for use and giving pleasure, it is necessary to 
present things to children gradually, first singly, and then in 
simple rhythmical combinations, so that they may have time 
to find themselves personally, and not be overwhelmed with 
a multitude of impressions. A real lover of children will 
quickly find out that they like to take time 'playing with 
things,' as they call it ; and that there is a special pleasure in 
discovering differences in things, that a new distinct percep- 
tion of any relation of things delights the child, as the 
discovery of a principle delights the adult mind. The fanci- 
ful plays of the Kindergarten, whether sedentary or moving, 
cultivate the imagination, the understanding, and the phys- 
ical powers in harmony, and more than this, they cultivate 
the heart and conscience, because the moving plays have 
for their indispensable condition numbers of their equals ; 



6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

and every thing they make is intended for others. The pre- 
sentation of persons, as having the same needs and desire of 
enjoyment as themselves, proves sufficient to call into con- 
sciousness the heart and conscience, just as immediately and 
inevitably as the presentation of natui'e and art calls into 
activity the understanding and imagination. 

Because nature and humankind are so vast that, as a whole, 
they daunt the young mind, even to the point of checking its 
growth, it is necessary that some one, who has had time to 
analyze it in some degree, should call attention to points ; 
and it is the consummate art of education to know what 
points to touch, so that the mind shall make out the octave ; 
for, unless it does so, it will not act to purpose. As exercise 
of the limbs is necessary to physical development, and the 
act of perceiving, understanding, and fancying, with actual 
manipulation of nature, is necessary to intellectual develop- 
ment ; so is kindness and justice acted out, to the develop- 
ment of the social and moral nature or conscience. 

But there is something else in man than relations to exter- 
nal nature and fellow-man. This self-determining being, who 
moves, perceives, understands, fancies, loves, and feels moral 
responsibility to the race in which he finds himself a living 
member, is only consciously happy when he is magnanimous, 
which he can only be, if he feels himself a free power in the 
bosom of infinite love ; in short, a son of the Father of all 
men ! " We are the offspring of God," is the inspiration alike 
of heathen poet and christian apostle. 

As the psychological condition of the human love, which 
is man's social happiness, is that sense of individual want and 
imperfection which stimulates the will to seek the mother 
and brother; so the psychological condition of the piety 
which makes man's beatitude, is the sense of social imper- 
fection, in respect both to moral purity and happiness, stim- 
ulating the will to seek a Father of all spirits. The more we 
love, the more we feel the need of God. But is God nothing 
but " an infinite sigh at the bottom of the heart," as Feuer- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 7 

bach, the holiest of infidels, sadly says? or, as in thinking, we 
discover the entity we name I ; so in loving, do we not dis- 
cover God, or rather does not God reveal himself to us, as 
Essential Substance ? Wordsworth declares that 

" Serene will be our days and bright, 

And happy will our nature be, 
When love is an unerring light, 

And joy its own security; 
And blest are they, who in the main, 
This faith even now do entertain, 
Live in the spirit of this creed, 
Yet find another strength according to their need." 

" That other strength " is to be found, as he had already 
sung in that same great song, in Duty — "daughter of the 
voice of God," 

" Victory and Law 
When empty terrors overawe ; 
From vain temptations doth set free, 
And calms the weary strife of frail humanity ! " 

Conscience, then, is the soul's witness, first of the relation 
of the individual to the human race ; and ultimately, of the 
relation of the human race to God ; and it must be inspired 
with knowledge of the sonship of the human race, to the 
Universal Father, or human life is bottomless despair. But 
with that knowledge, which God must give, (since man can- 
not reach it with his own understanding) he shall be able, 
even on the cross, to love the most ignorant brother infin- 
itely; and infinitely to trust that the Father of all will 
justify his spirit in acting accordingly. 



Heldesheih, April 19, 1874. 
My dear Miss Peabodt : 

Many thanks for sending the latest numbers of the Messen- 
ger. I am greatly interested in all they contain. 



8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

I see from a letter of Mr. Kraus, that you had asked him 
to compare the French translation, by Baronness Crombrug- 
ghe, of Froebel's "Education of Man" with the German 
original. I do not possess the French one, but since parts of 
the " Education of Man " have appeared in the Messenger, 
I have compared the English with the German, and to judge 
by that, the French seems, on the whole, translated very 
faithfully. In the English dress, the ideas appear veiy much 
condensed \_Foot note hy translator. — The translation from 
the French is absolutely literal, showing that this condensing 
process from the German was done in the French transla- 
tion,] and more concise than is Froebel's mode of writing, 
and only in rare instances the meaning deviates slightly from 
the meaning Froebel wishes to convey. If the translation 
cannot be made from the German text, I think this transla- 
tion from the French the next best thing. But would it not 
be well to remind your American readers, who may expect 
to find something relating to Kindergarten in it, that the 
"Education of Man" was published by Froebel, in 1826, full 
ten years before the first Kindergarten was ever established. 
But as you proceed in the translation, you will see it fore- 
shadowed. 

I was delighted with Mrs. Mann's paper on " The Home," 
and I trust those who were listening to the reading of it 
were delighted, too. 

Will you allow me to make a remark on a paragraph in 
" Glimpses of Psychology," in the April number of the Mes- 

SENGEK ? 

Turn to page 9, from the top down to the middle of the 
page. It seems to me that what is said there of the children's 
analyzing the objects made, ought to have been a little more 
clearly defined, in order to prevent misunderstanding. The 
occupations of the children in the Kindergarten are the sub- 
ject spoken of Now, it is well known that children attend 
the Kindergarten from three years of age and upward. In say- 
ing that the kindergartener should see to it that the child gives 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 9 

an account of what he has done in the proper words and so 
on, it ought to have been remarked that such a thing could 
only be required of the older children, and not of babies three 
years old, who may only be able to name the object they 
have produced. And even the older children would tire, if 
they had always to give an account of every step they had 
taken. It would take all the interest out of their play. 
They certainly must act according to law and order ; "know 
what they are about, and be able to give an account of pro- 
cesses, jDromptly and clearly, when required. But to require 
it always, would be very tedious, and deaden all creative 
spontaneity. Froebel is content if very little children only 
receive impressions, clear, sensuous impressions, which, by 
degrees, transform themselves into perceptions. Nothing is 
farther removed from Froebel's intention, than any forcing 
process. Certainly all this was in the writer's mind, but I 
think it might be well to give it expression, also, for the sake 
of those to whom the doings of the Kindergarten are not so 
familiar. 

I see you have in the April number reprinted my paper 
on " Teaching little children to read." I hope it may lead 
people to reflect on this matter. One misprinted word, 
which annoyed me in the original print, is again repeated, 
and may be here corrected. On page eleven, near the end 
of the first paragraph, it ought to read, "a similar injury," 
instead of "a singular injury." 

Next month I intend to go to Dresden, to visit the nor- 
mal school there, and to Gotha to see Kohler's Kindergarten 
and training school. Then the " General Educational Con- 
vention " will take place at Brunswick, and after this we will 
begin to get ready to come back to Boston to resume our 
work. We intend to come by way of Hamburg, in order to 
see all that is to be seen there. 

We will have many subjects to talk about when we see 
each other face to face, which is more satisfactory than letter 
writing. I am very truly, yours, 

MATILDA H. KRIEGE. 



lO KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

N. B. A very urgent invitation has been sent to Mrs. 
Kriege and her daughter, to go to Germantown, a suburb of 
Philadelphia, to do there what she did in Boston ; found a 
model Kindergarten and training school for kindergarteners. 
We do not know but she may decide, that the best thing for 
the interest of the Cause will be to break this new ground. 



I THINK this place in the Messenger is most appropriate for 
an account of a day spent in- Mrs. Kraus-Boelte's Kindergar- 
ten, which is, indeed, a glorified nursery, introducing the 
children into wider companionship and more artistic play 
than the mother's nursery can do or should try to do, even 
when that is at its best. It is the next stage of the child's 
education, whose necessity is indicated by its desire, when 
it is about three years old, to break out of that sacred 
precinct, and find more and varied objects. 

Going with Mi-s. Kraus into the large sunny room, where 
already sixty children were assembled, who had been ar- 
ranged in a large circle by the ladies of the normal class, 
(five of whom assist every day) it was lovely to see her go 
round and shake hands, kissing and saying some sw^eet word 
to every one, who were evidently awaiting it with eager ex- 
pectation, and sparkled and glowed at her approach. As she 
took her place in the circle, all rose and joined hands, and 
repeated after her the words of a verse of thanksgiving to 
the Heavenly Father, which they then sang; and this was 
followed by one or more morning songs, adapted to their 
infant minds. Then all sat down, and she began to tell a 
story (which is the spell by which she every day brings them 
to punctual attendance). There were, however, some tardy 
ones ; and when any of them came in, she paused in the story 
to give a welcoming kiss, and hear the eagerly-told excuse 
for being so late. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. II 

The whole style of procedure was courteous and kind, bat 
simple and unconventional ; and the same air pervaded the - 
whole morning's exercises, the children talking naturally, 
though a little subdued in tone by their number ; and brought 
to pei'fect silence, at any moment, by a slight clap of the kin- 
dergartener's hands ; for she seemed to be the centre of their 
interest and attention. 

The story was about the sun's sending his rays all over the 
world, to wake up the animals and birds and flowers from 
their night's sleep, each sunbeam being followed on its sepa- 
rate mission, and every animal described in so picturesque 
and animated a manner that they were guessed by the chil- 
dren, who also joined in the imitative motions she made. 
Thus, when the little hares began to skip, after their morning 
breakfast, several of the children were on the floor at once, 
imitating, but at the clapping of Mrs. Kriege's hands resumed 
their seats immediately. When the sunbeam went into the 
barn yard, there was a general crowing, lowing, and cooing, 
as cocks, cows, and pigeons successively awoke. One sun- 
beam discovered the newly-laid eggs, that the waiting maid 
carried into a breakfast room, where a happy family of chil- 
dren were at table with their papa and mamma, making a 
domestic scene that had its interest. It can hardly be imag- 
ined how much instruction was involved in this perfectly 
easy conversation, that engaged the eager attention and co- 
operating thought of all the children, who evidently had been 
made quite familiar with the characteristics of the objects 
mentioned. When it was over, there was a little verse — one 
line — of thanks sung by the circle of children, led by the as- 
sistant ladies, and it was responded to by the corresponding 
line of the couplet sung by Mrs. Kraus. 

The story done, all rose to their feet, as Mr. Kraus, in the 
play room, struck the piano with a lively march ; and they 
marched in single file around the room, members of the in- 
termediate class filing off", as they came to the open door, 
which was then shut. 



12 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

More than forty were left behind, who sat down again ; 
and then Mrs. Kraus called out two by two, till quite a col- 
umn was formed, and began to sing a boat song, in which all 
joined; those standing up making a kind of swinging step 
sideways, accompanied by a movement of the hands to rep- 
resent the rowing of a boat. This movement of the hands 
was also made by the children who were sitting round in 
the circle, who sang with the oarsmen, describing objects on 
the banks of the river, down which they were supposed to 
be rowing. When the voyage was over, and the boatmen 
had returned to their seats, and some had told what they 
had seen in their voyage, the rest of the children had another 
very simple play in their turn, accompanied by a simple song, 
in which all joined; for though it was necessary to have 
only one division on the floor at a time, on account of the 
limited space between the tables, they all joined in both 
plays by singing. After this, they rose and marched to the 
words of a song, and placed themselves at the tables for their 
more sedentary plays (or " occuj^ations," as Froebel calls 
them). There were five tables, at which children of diflering 
degrees of skill sat ; and weaving, sewing, and pricking ma- 
terials were distributed to them, for they were all engaged 
in making some things to carry home for Easter presents. 
There was a lady assistant at each table, sympathizing, sug- 
gesting, and, whenever a more mature hand was necessary, 
helping to finish up. 

A large number of the children had circles of tissue paper, 
folded three times, on each of which was drawn a flower in 
outline, to be pricked, and on the edges were pencil marks, 
different shaped marks being drawn on each one, and an arc 
of a small circle round the point of the cone. As the prick- 
ing of the flower, which had been begun another day was 
completed by one and another, scissors would be given them, 
and they cut according to the marks made on the edges, and 
the curve at the top, and then unfolded their papers, and 
each was found to be a different pattern of a lamp shade ! 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 3 

It was the prettiest thing in the world, to see the rapture 
of the children on unfolding their papers, and finding what 
beautiful things they had made. As we all joined Mrs. 
Kraus, in expressing our sympathetic delight, they looked 
sometimes so proud and happy, and sometimes so bashful 
and modest, as if they felt themselves covered with too much 
glory of success ! This cutting of paper, folded on the ka- 
leidescope principle, is the one thing they do, in which their 
understanding does not quite follow out the process, though 
they learn some of the inexorable conditions of success, and 
thus is intimated the substantiality of some unseen lawgiver, 
as much as when they assist in the production of flowers, 
where they plant and water, and await the increase which 
God alone can give. 

But all the other children were also rejoicing in their fin- 
ished mats and embroidered baskets, which they were to 
take home for Easter gifts. Mrs. Kraus was ubiquitous, ask- 
ing how each had done the work, and listening to their little 
plans of surprising somebody they loved, for whom they had 
been working many days. 

Mrs. Kraus then said to me, aloud : " The advanced class 
always invites the kindergarten children to share their gym- 
nastics;" and immediately the piano was struck by Mr. 
Kraus, and the doors were opened, that the children might 
march out and make a large circle in the play room, outside 
of the circle which the advanced class had already made. 
Mrs. Kraus then broke through both circles and stood in the 
midst, and made Dio ]jewis's free gymnastic motions, which 
they imitated to the sound of the music. I obseiwed 
she was very particular that the inner circle should make the 
motions with precision ; but the outer circle of smaller chil- 
dren made them as they could ; and many of them did as 
well as those in the inner cii'cle. 

Meanwhile the assistant ladies were putting little mugs of 
water and plates and the luncheon baskets on the tables, in 
the two rooms which had been left. It is a splendid suite 



14 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

of four large rooms, facing the south, and making the best 
conditions for a Kindergarten that I have seen yet. While 
the children sit at their lunch, the ladies flit round the tables, 
gently suggesting the kind and delicate manners, which it is 
so desirable to connect with the pleasures of eating; refining 
sensuous impressions by the social sentiment. 

The lunch over, Mr. Kraus struck the piano, and they all 
rose and marched, singing a little song, into the play room 
again, Mrs. Kraus explaining to me, that, as the advanced class 
had invited the Kindergarten to their gymnastics, so now the 
Kindergarten was going to share with the advanced class 
their games. They first stood in a square, round the room, 
and then, to very sweet music, two sides of the square ad- 
vanced towards each other, with a courteous gesture, sing- 
ing, " How do you do, how do you do ? " then, after going 
backward, they came forward a second time, singing " Very 
well, I thank you, very well, I thank you ; " afterwards, the 
other two sides of the square did the same. Then they 
played the swallow's nest, and several other games, while 
the lunch tables were cleared, and pieces of shingle, with a 
bunch of soft wet clay on each, were put on them for each 
child. To this occupation of modelling, they all marched in, 
with the greatest delight, for, as they severally said, on my 
asking, they " like it better than any thing ; " and the last 
hour of every week is given to it. My companion, being an 
amateur sculptor, asked for some clay, too, squatted down at 
the children's table, charming them with a beautiful bird she 
made to sit on a nest of eggs that she made. 

In this occupation the children are left more entirely to 
their undirected spontaneity than in any other, and marvel- 
lous is the variety and exhaustlessness of their inventions. 

This was the last exercise of the day, and shared by the 
advanced class, who remained for a whole hour. But grad- 
ually the smaller children were taken oflF by their mothers and 
nurses, who came for them. I saw that none were willing 
to go without a kiss, and some last words from dear Mrs. 
Kraus. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 5 

The whole morning realized the idea of Paradise for child- 
hood. The serpent of disorder did certainly tempt, now and 
then ; but the human embodiment of the saving love was at 
hand, with timely advice ; and sometimes there was the re- 
buke of changing the place of the child, with an affectionate 
remonstrance, being accompanied by the cheering hope that 
the mistake would not be made again. Always it was pointed 
out clearly, that the offence produced social pain or disturb- 
ance; so that the substance of a common humanity was 
made to underlie the abstract idea of right; and prepare for 
the opening up, later, into a clear apprehension of the Divine 
Love as the lawgiver, giving vital motive to all right action, 
instead of making duty done a mere gymnastic of the will. 

Thus the possibility of self-righteousness and phariseeisra, 
in the little doers, is precluded by their getting into the habit 
of being orderly and productive, not in order to be classed 
as good, but out of uncalculating kindness of heart. To do 
right for its own sake, really means (in this house of our 
Father) doing right out of love of the brother ; which is the 
legitimate way of learning to love God. " If we do not love 
our brother whom we have seen, how shall we love God 
whom we have not seen ? " asks the apostle of Christ, who 
was the brother of Jesus, according to the flesh. 

I have never seen so complete a realization of Froebel's 
idea of the law of the Lord that gives perfect liberty^ be- 
cause it is one with the love that takes captivfty captive^ as in 
this Kindergarten of Mrs. Kraus-Boelte's. There was order, 
such as underlies the exuberance of vegetation ; for there is 
mathematical law in vegetable formation, as truly as in chrys- 
tallization, though not so sharply defined to the outward 
senses, because it is overlaid with that action of the Creator's 
free grace which corresponds to the varying imagination of 
the heart of man. And it is the free grace of spontaneous 
obedience in the children, that comes forth to meet the ten- 
derness in which Mrs. Kraus wraps commands in sympa- 
thetic suggestions of the way to do that is to make all 
parties happy and good. 



1 6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

This most desirable power to govern without the hard 
formalities, which attend the giving of law in most cases of 
finite government, is a great attainment, and results, doubt- 
less, in Mrs. Kraus's case, from her fifteen years of successful 
experience, and the plentitude of knowledge of childhood 
that she has acquired in loving observation of a large number 
of individuals. She believes, with all her heart, in Froebel's 
doctrine, which is the republication of Christ's revelation of 
the nature of the heart of infant man, as a reflection of the 
Father's face; and when she asks the child she has placed in 
the right attitude, what he will do, it seems to be without a 
doubt, that the response will be " the spirit that maketh all 
things new," just so far as the child has been freed from the 
influence of the surrounding conventionalisms, and backslid- 
ings of others. She desires to share this faith of hers with 
the mothers of her children ; and thus a meeting with the 
mothers, once a week, she considers to be not a burden, but 
an aid to her in her work; and another year, when she will 
be on an entirely independent foundation, this mothers' meet- 
ing will be gratuitous on her own part ; nor will fathers be 
excluded, if they are disposed to come. 

I was permitted to hear one of Mrs. Kraus's lectures to 
mothers, that she repeated in her normal class, to one of 
whose sessions she invited me ; and it was lovely to see the 
enthusiastic love of these students, alike for her, and for the 
work they were learning to do. 

Ah ! I said to myself, as I left her, after one of those rich 
days, (for I went into the Kin(iergarten more than once) 
at last ! at last ! the kingdom of heaven is coming upon 
earth ; and the full meaning is revealed of the first christian 
symbol, the infant son of God in the arms of the natural, de- 
vout, humble, blessed mother ! 

I thought of that magnificent picture of Correggio's, in the 
Di-esden gallery, where the blazing light shines from the 
body of the new born child, enveloping the mother in the 
pure white light, as she delightedly gazes, while the less in- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 7 

nocent and less comprehending, because less loving per- 
sons around, are shading their eyes fi'om the blinding glory. 
Ah, yes, I said to myself, we have none of us comprehended 
what is meant by the Saviour Child. " Mary pondered all 
these things in her heart," says the sacred legend ; and is not 
this the reason she knew how to guard and cherish and rev- 
erently learn what childhood can best teach ; and for once, 
the son of God, which is Humanity, was perfectly developed 
and manifested individually on this earth, which received 
him not, (generally) but " as many as did receive him " be- 
came the sons of God, for, " All who are led by the spirit of 
God are the sons of God." 



A FREE RENDERma FROM SCHILLER'S "BOY PLAYIITG ON 
HIS MOTHER'S LAP." 

Baby ! on thy mother's arm 

Securely held above the abyss, 
Thou gazest down without alarm ; 

Thy ignorance is love's own bliss. 

Playing on thy mother's lap, 
And feeding at thy mother's breast, 

No gloomy clouds the sky enwrap 
Of that island of the blest ! 

'T is the Arcady of Pan, 
Who with every flower is toying ; 

'T is the Paradise of man, 
The Tree of Life's fresh fruit enjoying. 

Play on, darling ! Show us all, 

How the will of God is done • 
As in heaven, by baby small. 

Whose life with love and joy is one. 



KINDER GAR TEN MESSENGER. 



Ladt Baker's Music to "Froebkl's Nursery Songs." 
Published by Wilkie, Wood, & Co., 47 Great Russel St., 
Bloomsbury, London, W. 

Kindergarten Plays. With C. J. Richter's Music. 
Published by J. L. Peters, Broadway, New York. 

When Froebel was playing with children, such was his 
genius, that at any moment, rhymed verse came at his bid- 
ding, in words suitable to the action ; and he would sing 
them to popular tunes, well known German national airs. 
These tunes have endeared themselves to all the kindergar- 
ten teachers and children, so that our friend, Marie Kraus- 
Boelte, is not willing that any others should be substituted 
for them. She once wrote to me that " no melody, however 
lovely and well suited, could take the place of those which 
Froebel has maiTied to his text ; since, wherever there are 
Kindergartens, in Germany, England, America, Russia, these 
tunes are now known and sung." I differ from my friend in 
this ; and think melodies, made as characteristic to the move- 
ments and words (especially when they are English words) 
are needed, and must be created. 

Froebel did well to adopt melodies, well known and liked 
in Germany ; but we may do better by composing new ones 
with skill and inspiration. Always working in Froebel's 
spirit, we shall work on, not remain fixed where he left us. 
The German poet Uhland wrote : 

Sing ye, all, when song is given, 

In the sacred poet-grove. 
That is joy, when birds are singing 

From each branch their song of love. 

Platen, whilst recommending man in all his other shortcom- 
ings and frailties to our mercy and indulgence, finds no ex- 
cuse for mediocre poetry, nor for the poet who has not reached 
perfection ; he says to him, " If thou hast failed, dash thy 
lyre to pieces ! " 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 9 

Between the bold generosity of TJhland, and the orthodox 
severity of Platen, is a golden mean. Thus Rousseau ex- 
claims, " If you are only a pedant, my writing is not for you. 
If you ask me, however, what shall I do in my circumstances, 
which will not allow my carrying out of your advice judi- 
ciously, I answer, ' exactly what you are doing.' " 

Froebel, in adaptiiig well-known airs to his words, made 
a virtue of necessity. We have been contented to accept 
what he left us. Are we never to go farther? Are we not 
to work on in his spirit, still creating? Songs have recently 
been composed, fitting, characteristic, simple, and childlike. 
Mr. Richter's melody to the play ' Blind man's buff,' is very 
sweet; the child's voice which sings it, is a silver tone. 
'Birdie's, 'Cuckoos,' 'Vintages,' and others, are charming. 
Lady Baker's (you know how she has made acquaintance with 
the Mutter und Kose Lieder^ and irresistably was drawn to 
compose music for the English words) are characteristic, highly 
tuneful, cheery melodies; and it would be wrong to reject 
such a boon, on the ground that Froebel's tunes ought to be 
kept forever. Stagnation is death ; if schools ought to be free 
from it, surely the Kindergarten ought to be so. 

Lady Baker is a pupil of George Macfarren ; and to her 
culture and refinement, unites a great talent and thorough 
knowledge of music and song. Mr. Macfarren has so ad- 
mired them, as to join her in editing them. He is England's 
greatest composer, as is acknowledged now by all the art 
critics, since his oratorio of John the Baptist has been per- 
formed at Bristol and Exeter Hall. Let us welcome this 
new music to the Nursery Songs, and beg Lady Baker to go 
on, and publish all the rest; and let us help to introduce 
them into the Kindergartens of America, as an inspiring, ele- 
vating element. 

H. NOA. 



20 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

MISS GARLAND'S KINDEEQARTEN TRAmiHS CLASS OF 1873-74. 

Nothing could be more satisfactory to the friends of Froe- 
bel's reform, than the graduating exercises of this class, 
which took place May 21, in the chapel of the Hollis Street 
Church. The doors were opened at half past three for the 
exhibition of the work done by the class, much of which was 
invented by the several workers. 

At four o'clock, the exercises began by the Rev. Mr. Cut- 
ler's reading the words of Christ concerning little children, 
followed by a pi-ayer. Miss Garland then said that a desire 
had been expressed to see the games and hear the songs 
which made so large a part of the exercises of the Kinder- 
garten ; and as it was entirely contrary to the Froebel spirit 
to make an exhibition of the children, the young ladies had 
consented to give some specimens of the games, songs, and 
hymns, and these would alternate with the reading of the 
essays, four or five of which had been selected, that by their 
subjects would cover the outline of the system. She did 
not say, what was however the fact, that each of the twelve 
young ladies had written an essay on some point, but the 
rest were omitted for want of time to read them, and one 
who did read, substituted for her essay a stoiy she had writ- 
ten as an exercise in the class, illustrative of the value of the 
occupation of the Rings. We hope to give this pretty story 
in one of our future numbers, and also some of the essays. 
There was a very satisfactory essay on Froebel's series of 
gifts, and the occupations in which they are used, the special 
bearing of each being touched upon. One young lady, who, 
previously to studying with Miss Garland, had received the 
training of the Boston Normal School and the Pestalozzian 
Object teaching, read an essay comparing Froebel and Pes- 
talozzi. Miss Gay, who read the last essay " Upon the future 
of the Kindergarten," was so eloquent in her appeal for pub- 
lic Kindergartens, that might include poor children, as to 
produce a marked effect on her audience, so that Miss Gar- 
land forgot to read the twenty questions whose written 



KINDERGARTEN- MESSENGER. 21 

answers by each one of the class were the basis of the diplo- 
mas given. It was manifestly impossible to read in public 
the twelve sets of answers; but the questions would have 
given the audience a good idea of the nature and depth of 
the studies which they had pursued, and which earned the 
diplomas. These latter are to be used as certificates of the 
young ladies' abilities, moral, intellectual, and artistic. A 
hymn sung by the young ladies, with piano accompaniment, 
closed these interesting exercises of the class. 

No arrangements had been previously made for speeches from 
the audience, but Mr. Hagar, Principal of the Salem Normal 
School, Mr. Denman Ross, and Mrs. Mary Safford Blake, 
M. D., expressed their warm sympathy and approval. They 
declared themselves already earnest advocates of the system. 
Mr. Edward Spring, of Perth Amboy, N. J., sjDoke especially 
of the development possible to be given to the occupation of 
modelling, which is the favorite one of children, and which 
he also affirms to be the most natural. Miss Peabody fol- 
lowed him to tell the audience that this gentleman, who had 
kindly come to Boston at her request, to give his ideas upon 
this occupation to the Training Class, would remain here a 
few weeks, at the request of some of these young ladies and 
of other teachers, to give them elementary lessons. By the 
courteous sympathy of the Boston University, its lecture 
room had been granted to him for these lectures, and his 
lessons were now to be given every day at the Wesleyan 
Hall, 36 Bromfield Street. She advised all who could go, 
to take advantage of this opportunity, and learn to guide 
children into this beautiful art, which can be made subser- 
vient to their culture in taste, scientific knowledge, and 
artistic creation. 

Mrs. Blake reverted to Miss Gay's earnest appeal, for pub- 
lic Kindergartens for the poor, who are as amenable to the 
laws of beauty and use, and can quite as easily be guided 
into them as the children of the rich. She emphatically 
declared that the money it would cost would be less than 



22 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

that now expended upon criminals, even juvenile criminals, 
in punishment and restraint of vitiated energy, that could as 
spontaneously flow in harmony with true laws as against 
them, and ever so much more joyously to themselves, and 
beneficially to others. 

Mr. Denman Ross gave an account of the interest in edu- 
cation which his election, some fifteen years since, into the 
School Committee had awakened in him, and how as long 
ago as that he had been interested in Kindergartens, and 
had done every thing he could to promote the School of 
Technology, which was on kindergarten principles. But he 
thought Miss Garland's Kindergarten a better Technological 
Institute than the one on the Back Bay, whose best points 
were those it had in common with hers. He also spoke of a 
late visit he had made to the Normal School at Hampton, 
Va. ; this also was conducted on the same principle of learn- 
ing and working, and he expressed a wish that some one of 
this excellent class would go there and set up a Kindergarten 
for the children. 

After the speeches, the audience still lingered to examine 
the work, to congratulate the teachers, and to talk with the 
young ladies, who presented two beautiful bouquets which 
had ornamented the chapel, the one to Miss Garland and the 
other to her able assistant, Miss Jane Weston. Four days 
before, a magnificent one had been sent by them to Miss 
Peabody, who had given them a lecture every month, and 
whose seventieth birthday they had desired to beautify and 
make happy. 

Many mothers present, with glad tears expressed their 
strong sympathy, feeling that the spirit evinced by the young 
ladies was suflicient proof to them that Froebel's Kindergar- 
ten realized the Divine Idea of Education, and actually was 
initiating the kingdom of heaven upon earth. God grant 
that this may prove true, but it can only be done by its not 
being allowed to drop with the tender age of little children, 
but be prolonged into their whole youth and manhood, and 
thus constitute a perfect whole of right training. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. ■ 23 

MR. SPEINa'S LECTURES ON MODELLING. 

[From the "Woman's Journal of May 23.] 

Tbose who know anything of Froebel's Kindergarten, 
know that modelling in clay or wax, is one of the earliest 
and most important of the occupation-plays by which he 
proposed to educate little children. His method is, to give 
to children clay or wax, and suggest its being made into a 
ball, and when this is done perfectly, to suggest its being 
modified at their own "sweet will," into apples and other 
fruits, eggs, birds' nests, etc. This not only makes them 
perfectly happy, but is found to develop their inventive fac- 
ulties as well as their appreciation of form, in a surprising 
manner. By and by he proposes that the fundamental form 
should be changed into a cube, by pounding the ball first on 
one side and then on the opposite, in a rythmical manner, 
singing one, two, three, as they do it, and also to make the 
other geometrical forms, each of which in turn, the children 
modify into forms of use or beauty. Of course, in the 
Kindergarten, only a few forms are utilized ; but the ball 
especially, is found to be capable of indefinite development 
by children's fancy. 

Mr. Spring became acquainted with Froebel's system 
while he was giving lessons in drawing to a military school, 
where for three years he gave a course of lectures. 

All great artists advise their students to practice modelling 
in some degree, and he made into a class the little children 
of the neighbors, and tested a plan that he conceived, of 
making them acquainted gradually with the fundamental 
forms of the human face ; and with the most gratifying re- 
sults. 

We append the programme of a course of lectures which 
he has just given at the Boston University, and which he 
will repeat at Wesleyan Hall, No. 36 Bromfield Street, 
Room No. 1, before he leaves the city ; and also, that if any 
students would like to employ the summer months in taking 
practical lessons of him, he has ample space in his studio 



24 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

at Eagleswood, Perth Amboy, New Jersey, for a small class 
to do so, and they can board close at hand, in the Eagles- 
wood House, which is one of the most lovely summer resorts 
on the coast of New Jersey. 

At all events we trust that the Boston University will 
make Mr. Spring a university lecturer every year to repeat 
these elementary lectures in modelling, which is the proper 
foundation of Art education. e. p. p. 



MODELLING. 

A Means of Scientific and Art Culture. 
(The Lectures were delivered at Boston University, May 11, IS, and 15.) 



LECTUEE I. — The Development of Form. 
Forms without life. — Crystals, Foundation Stones. 
Weights and Measures. — (The whole range of Geometry and Arith- 
metic may be explained in clay.) 
Froebel and the Kindergarten. — Forms with life. — Primitive forms, 
Seeds, Buds, Vegetable growths, Eggs, Animal life. Worms, 
Snakes, Fishes, Reptiles, Birds, Mammals, Man. — {All sketched 
in clay on the spot.) 
LECTURE II.— The Face. 
Beview of the former lecture. — The human head pear-shaped. 
Kindergarten Exercises. — The conventional Greek face ; Its beauty 
— Reasons. The American face ; Its future. Effects of changes 
in the face illustrated. {Several series of heads sketched in clay 
and changed before the spectators.) — Subtleties in Art ; Great art- 
ists must always be rare ; Need of a broader and higher culture 
in America ; Importance of the Kindergarten system. We may 
develop a great artist, but better, shall develop the true man. 
LECTURE III.— Growth and its Effects. 
Beview of the former lecture. — Principles of growth. Vegetable, 
Animal ; " The Baby ;" Changes caused by time ; Old age. {Illus- 
trated in clay as before.) 

" Grow old along with me, 
The best is yet to be, 
The last of life 
For which the first was made." — Robert Browning. 



H. N. McKINNEY & CO., 

Publishers and Booksellers 

PHILADELPHIA, PA. 

publishes 

Lecture on Itie Educatioo of k Kinderalener 



11 

By Miss E. P. PEABODY. 

.Sold by A. Williams, corner of Washington and School Streets, Boston. 
E. Steiger, 22 and 24 Frankfort Street, New York. 

G. P. Putnam's Sons, 23d Street and 4th Avenue, Kew York. 

MISS HENRIETTA NOAj 

(Teacher in the Mary Institute, St. Louis, Mo.) 

Would like to take charge of some young ladies, from the middle 
of June to the middle of September, in some family, or at the sea- 
shore, or in the mountains, or even for an excursion to Europe. 

She holds the best testimonials of her teaching in music, German, 
French, &c. Her address is 2739 Morgan Street, St. Louis, Mo., 
until June 11. 



ROWLAND G, MMl PHILOSOPHICllL WORKS, 

ESSAY ON LANGUAGE. 2d edition. With other papers, one being on the 

Philosophical Genius of Kev. W. E. Channing, D. D. Published in Boston, 

185T, by Phillips, Sampson, & Co. 
FREEDOM OF MIND IN WILLINGj or. Every Being who Wills a Creative 

First Cause. New York: Appleton & Co. 1864. 
TWO LETTERS ON CAUSATION, addressed to John Stuart Mill. With an 

Appendix on the Existence of Matter and our Notions of Intinite Space. 

Boston : Lee & Shepard. 1869. 
In 1868 Scribner published two works on practical subjects : " Our Resources," and 

" Finance and the Hours of Labor." 

TO SUBSCRIBERS. 

g^^If any have missed numbers hitherto, please make it known ; 
and will all who have not paid for 1874, pay now, with twelve cents 
for postage. 

ElSraLISH SUBSCRIBEHS 

Can pay by trending post-office money orders directed to Miss Skell, 17 Straw- 
berry Bank, Strawberry Road, Pendleton, in Manchester, England. 
She will aliio take names of new subscribers. Price, Five Shillings. 



8 



y- '"" — . =^ 

VOL. III. JULY, 1875.' No. 7. 



A PERIODICAL OF 24 PAGES. 



^{ind^ruaiften jl^ss^iig^rv 



EDITED BY 



ELIZABETH P. PEABODY. 



TEEMS ONE DOLLAE PEE TEAE, IN ADVANCE, 

Payable to the Editor, 19 Follen Street, Cambridge, Mass. 

Back numbers for 1874 can be had for $1.00, as long as the edition 
holds out. These numbers contain important matter that will not be 

repeated. 

m 

TEEMS OF ADVEETISEMENTS ... 25 CENTS A LINE. 

ADVKRTtSEMENTS are solicited. Any Kindergartener (accredited as 
trained) can h^e her name and address inserted in one line, for 25 
cents, and (jontinued till forbidden. Payments must be sent with the 
orders. 



KINDERGARTEN MATERIALS, at low prices, by the manu- 
factory of Froebel's Games and Apparatuses of Chr. Vetter, 
formerly Ludn. Hestermann, Hamburg, (Germany,) Gr. Bleicheu 32. 



MRS. GARDNER'S KINDERGARTEN 

T7ILL OPEN 

MONDAY, APRIL 12, 1875, 
At 8 1-2 East Onondaga Street, Syracuse, N. Y. 

3Ii-s. G. is a graduate of Mrs. Ogden's Training School, of 
Chicago, 111. 



FLOWER OBJECT LESSONS, 

from the French of Le Maout, 55 pp., 47 wood cuts, cloth; for 
sale by translator. Miss A. L. Page, Danvers, Mass., for 65 cents. 
Copies sent to teachers on the receipt of 50 cents. 

A letter from Miss E. P. Peabody to the author, says: "This 
book gives the only kind of botany lessons proper fur a Kindergarten, 
containing not a single technical term, but securing a complete 
aesthetic observation of the flowers, as a basis for future scientific 
observation and classification. I think every kindergartener should 
have a copy, and thoroughly master the idea. Le Maout, like 
Eroebel, sees that clear sensuous impressions are the foundation of 
the human understanding. This is a truly Baconian way of ques- 
tioning nature for the Divine word, which is always melody and 
beauty, and forecloses the dryness of studying human words about 
things. Those letters to you of Mrs. Kriege, Dr. Douai, Professors 
John L. Bussell and Van Der Weyde, really preclude any necessity 
of my recommendation. But you are at liberty to do what you will 
with this opinion." 

" I have no doubt that it is a great advance upon former botanies 
for beginners ; and, for the older children of the Kindergartens, say 
from five to seven, would be highly useful." — Madam Kreige, to 
the translator. 

"Under skilful presentations [the Plower Object Lessons] will 
prove of the greatest import towards kindling the love of nature, 
sharpening the senses, and all the mental powers, and exciting 
moi'al sentiments." — Dr. Adolph Douai, in preface. 



EJSraLISH SUBSCmBERS 

Can pay by sending post-ofia.ce money orders directed to Miss Snell, No. 4 Great 
"Western Street, Moss-side, in Manchester, England. 
She will also take names of new subscribers. Price, Five Shillings. 



l^intleKptt^tt ^e^^eniet. 



Vol. III. — JULY, 1875. — No. 7. 



OUR BOY! 

Our boy! Do you know liim ? T think you must, though 
may be you do not associate him with us. He seems such a 
whole creation in himself — such an embodiment of all hu- 
man possibilities, that, subdued by his opal-like intensity, I 
dare say you think of him as a unit only — something quite 
by himself^- not at all ours, or because of us, or even the 
condensation of all the fine qualities we still pride ourselves 
On possessing, (though nowadays we have grown to be so 
quiet in their display, that we leave you to divine in us much 
which once we should have gaily flashed forth for your rec- 
ognition). 

But he is not wholly one by himself — he is ours whether 
you have thought it or not, and indeed he would not be 
happy to have you think him any one's else ; and as for stand- 
ing alone, I assure you he does not like it one bit ; and herein 
lies the initial-point of our perplexity. That he is so depen- 
dent a child — such a mother's boy! He is three and one- 
half years old, though, with his height and his wise ways, 
you might well think him over four ! But his height is not 
a thing which he can help, and as for his wisdom, who could 
quite resist spoiling such a boy just a little, making him a 
companion and talking with him, — well! — a great deal? 
Who, even the most prudent of us; when he enjoys it so 
much, and we not less ? Then he could not be kept quite 
alone, of coui'se, and all his little cousins live so far away 
from town. There are " only big ones here," as you may 



146 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

often hear liim say mournfully; and the baby will not be 
able, this many a long month, to more than crow, or coo, in 
reponse to all his eager chatter. It is out of the question 
that he should play with little sti'angers on the street, and 
the yard is not "much fun," except when there is snow there ; 
then, even, it is chilling sport playing snow-fort, Robinson 
Crusoe, with no man Friday to help and admire ! As for 
building a house big enough for us grown people, why, there 
would not be snow enough in all the whole yard, not in the 
deepest storms ; besides, papa is down town, and mamma so 
busy, while nurse has baby, who seems to be taking one 
everlasting nap, which our boy has to remember to respect, 
for that is her way of growing and gathering force for further 
development. This he knows very well, for he sees her al- 
ways sleeping ; and she gets longer and longer all the time 
in her dress; and her knit shoes she outgrows, he thinks, 
surprisingly fast ! He likes to watch her very much, and we 
think her dumbness, her want of response to his many ques- 
tions, perplexes him less when she is not awake, and he ex- 
pects nothing from her. For, even with his wisdom, and all 
his philosophy, it certainly is a baffling fact that there is so 
little communication possible between them ; that when she 
cries, even his demonstrations and expressions of sympathy 
do not reach her comprehension. He is really lonely, while 
waiting for her to grow up to him. So loving, too, that he 
does not like to feel' alone ; loses heart, as he plays, if not 
noticed, encouraged, and approved pretty often. He dearly 
likes putting work-baskets in order, for instance ; but even 
that fascination is short-lived, if mamma or nurse does not see 
it in all stages of progress, and show pleasure in his doing it 
for her! So is it all day, more or less. Bright he is, very, 
and active beyond belief almost, "with pent-up energy in 
every finger-tip, and plenty of it in his heels ; but all of it 
needing perpetual guidance, or, at least, suggestion and en- 
dorsement. 

A bit of quicksilver ! A glancing gleam of light ! But 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 147 

how set the trap to catch our sunbeam, and make his warmth 
and brightness centre to his own expansion, and the effecting 
of the greatest good ? We have talked it over again and 
again, each of us shrinking from the idea of a school ; shrink- 
ing so much, that we have avoided naming it even, though 
our unanimous silence, on this point, has been almost as ex- 
pressive as speech. It seems so hard to let him go out from 
our immediate care; so hard that any stranger-hand should 
help him, in our stead. We love him so intensely, that, in our 
concentration of affection, we are (though we will not see it 
so till forced by his necessities) fairly selfish over him ! But 
supply to him now all the conditions for his best growth we 
cannot! There is the baby, the housekeeping, the calls of 
friendship, social duties, great need of self-culture, too, in 
these stirring times, when something, if not many things, 
new, must be learned each day. Then the days ai-e so short, 
yet contrive to hold so much fatigue, that rest and the re- 
freshment of some moments alone, now and then, are a ne- 
cessity. Our boy does not realize that yet. Thank heaven 
that he need not yet, nor for many a year to come! But still 
the fact remains, and must be faced, and arranged for. 

Duty to our boy comes first, we say ! Yes, but duty well 
done to him, dependiJ^ primarily, upon duty well done to 
ourselves. How else give him of our best ? And who would 
offer less than the calmest, fullest, and highest to him, who 
can protect himself, as yet, from no impression, so defenceless 
is childhood in its want of experience ; so little can it reason 
upon, or interpret, the simple cause of any effect disai^point- 
ing or bewildering ? We think and puzzle, wonder and wish ! 
At last, going out quite innocently, as if on errands bent, we 
make a bold plunge (pretending all the time to ourselves that 
we do not belong to our boy, but to some quite different 
child,) make a plunge, and where but into a Kindergarten ? 
reasoning, as we stand on the step, that all intelligent persons 
should keep pace with the times ; that we must inform our- 



148 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

selves educationally, so far as we may, lest, some clay, we 
find ourselves on the school board, quite unprepared for ac- 
tion, or opinion even ! 

Besides, have we not heard Kindergartens spoken of as 
the "Children's Paradise?" and what boy, if not ours, is a 
live angel, worthy of Paradise ? A ring at the door, a mo- 
ment's hesitation, and we enter into such a merry garden of 
innocence as would enchant the most indifferent on-looker. 
The morning exercises are over. A brief, interesting object- 
lesson, on the violet, has been given and absorbed ; that has 
led to a talk about flowers and the spring-time, which, with 
its sun-smiles and rain-kisses, brings them forth for our delight. 
Each child has had some little experience or story to tell ; 
and then, one speaking of the bird seen by him on his way 
to Kindergarten, another has been reminded to tell of some 
pet doves at grandpapa's ; when the teacher, seizing the sug- 
gestion, has just called the children to repeat with her, and 
then alone, the pigeon-house verses. We come into the 
play-room just as this game of pigeon house is in full tide of 
success. Hand in hand stand the little ones, forming a circle, 
the "house," out of which, through the many door-ways, flut- 
ter, turn by turn, those chosen to act as the pigeons, who first 
chase each other swiftly outside the ring, and then save them- 
selves from capture by seeking refuge within the charmed 
circle, to the delight of all the other birds, who laugh with 
glee as they sing, and sing as they laugh. 

" We open the pigeon house again, 

And set all the happy flutterers free ; 
They fly o'er the field and the grassy plain, 

Delighted with joyous libei-ty. 
And when they return from their meny flight, 
We shut up the house, and bid them good night ! " 

How happy the little faces, how quick the feet and hands, 
how merry the song! How they seem to delight in what 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 149 

they do, and in so doing it that each shall help the other to 
the utmost ! Activity here in fullest measure — well-ordered 
activity, where the game gives the children opportunity for 
expansion, physical, mental, and moral, all at once. And 
this is but one of many plays, all of which, they tell us, keep 
this three-fold end in view, it being the rock whereon the 
Kindergarten is founded. How good for our boy, whose 
active mind seems inclined, in its development, to infringe 
upon the rights of both body and soul. It does not yet^ and 
shall not, with our good will, but gives such indications daily. 
Not that you would think of such a possibility, I dare say ; 
but then, admiration is not apprehensive where love must 
be so, and this is not your boy, but ours ! 

The room is suddenly pretty quiet again, for the song no 
longer fills it. The game is over, and the little pigeons have 
folded their wings, and are all seated before small, painted 
tables, cheerfully sewing on perforated card-board, or weav- 
ing, with nimble fingers, pretty mats, out of many-colored 
papers. They chatter softly as they work, telling for whom 
they are making these gifts ; when they hope to finish this 
piece ; and with what new combinations of color their next 
shall glow. Very skilful are some of the little hands. In- 
terested is each that his own shall soon become so. 

Children are born workers surely, only needing to have 
suitable material placed at their disposal, that their ideas 
may have a chance to arrive at expression, without becoming 
exhausted through too many or too great obstacles to sur- 
mount, in their progress from desire to fulfilment. Yes, we 
have seen that often, in our boy, only we have not always 
known how to help him to help himself. It has been so 
much easier to do for him than to do with him ! Quickly 
arises the query, will it be piracy to use the hints gained by 
this hour's watching of suitable employments suitably given? 
Yet look! Half the delight these children feel, half the 
good they gain, is from the companionship in their play-work ! 



150 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER, 

Such social creatures are these wee men and women ; liking 
to leami of each other, to measure lengths, as it were, straight- 
ening to their employment with fresh energy of inspiration, 
after each comparison of self with another, after each inter- 
change of experience. No, the sewing and weaving would 
fail in their effect, w^ere we to keep our boy a solitary. We 
will not be pirates! We will not covet or steal what we can- 
not fully use ! How else, than by such self-sacrifice, can we 
distinguish ourselves as products of civilization, with devel- 
oped reasoning powers? 

But a song interrupts our meditation. The holf hour's 
occupation is over, and the little feet and voices now relieve 
guard for the hands and eyes, that the growth of all the 
members and faculties shall not be hindered by over-fatigue 
of any one; that the exercise of each shall help the develop- 
ment of all. The work has been put away neatly ; the sing- 
ing ring is formed again, this time to play a game in which 
the child guesses, by the voice alone, who stands behind 
him. 

But it is noon. Our boy's nap-hour has come, and we 
must huriy off, leaving with regret all these merry little peo- 
ple ; with so much regret that we find ourselves vowing im- 
petuously, ' To-morrow he shall come,' to look on at first, and 
delight in seeing what we have seen ; then, if only it be pos- 
sible, to be admitted to fellowship! Not that he will realize, 
as we do for him, all the benefit he must gain in the compan- 
ionship, at work and play, of all these happy little ones; nor 
should we wish him to realize it, even -in part. An uncon- 
scious influence strikes far deeper down! Time enough for 
him to begin the realization of causes, when he has come to 
show, or to feel, effects; but, meanwhile, we must guard him 
from the influence of any causes save those which shall pro- 
duce good effects. In this child-garden are no weeds per- 
mitted. The wall is high and firm enough to exclude evil, 
but not so high as to shut ofl" God's own sunshine, and the 
pure breath of heaven. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 151 

The teachers aim to make the child's inner world as free 
and beautiful, for its natural development, as is the outer. 
Their prayer is, 

" Teach me of Thy ways, O Father, 
For sweet childhood's sake ! " 

Can even we be jealous of their guidance of our boy, at 
least, till such time as we shall have fitted ourselves more 
fully to do their work, as well as our own, for him ? And if 
through illness, or over-pressure otherwise, we cannot wholly 
consecrate our outer lives to his needs, why not be thankful 
that he shall not lose through our imperfections and short- 
comings ? 

Home we go thoughtfully — happily, too — for have we 
not gained a partial victory over our selfish desire for abso 
lute possession of our boy ? It does seem very soon to let 
him begin to stand among his fellows ! Yet is it not among 
them that his life must be passed ; can the training begin too 
soon? As a child, working harmoniously with many chil- 
dren ! Surely this must help him to his life-work, to be a 
man among men ! For work we all must, sometimes wisely, 
sometimes ill-judgedly, helped or hindered by the vv^isdom of 
our surroundings. This is the law of our growth ! Activity 
— the growth of our bodies, our minds, our souls. Happy 
we whose three-fold nature has been favored in its even, 
symmetrical development, by good conditions ! Happier 
still we, who, looking into the future, see for our children 
better opportunities yet, than those we have known, of less 
time wasted in learning how to learn, more time given to 
the rooting, that, later, less time may be given to the prun- 
ing, and that we may rejoice sooner in the development of 
our boy into the j^erfect human plant, bearing good fruits, to 
our great gladness, his profit, and the honor of God, the 
Father of spirits. e. p. 

May 26, 1875. 



152 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 



FEOM W. BLAKE'S SONGS OF INNOCENCE. 

Oh, father and mother! if buds are nipp'd, 

And blossoms blown away; 

And if the tender plants are stripped 

Of their joy, in the springing day, 

By sorrow and care's dismay, 

How shall the summer arise in joy? 

Or the summer fruits appear? 

Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy? 

Or bless the mellowing year, 

When the blasts of winter appear? 



Pity would be no more, 
If there were not somebody poor; 
And mercy no more could be. 
If all were as happy as we. 



WEAVING. 
One of the loritten exercises of the Training School. 

The child of the Kindergarten is presented with a mat, 
or sheet of smooth colored paper cut into narrow strips, and 
held together by the surrounding border. Into this mat he 
is to weave strips of some contrasting color, forming patterns 
by a variety of combinations. 

This is done by means of a flat steel needle, which holds 
the end of the strip fimly, yet willingly surrenders it at the 
end of each journey. Such is the pliability of its temper, 
that it may be said to help the fingers along ; and its docility 
is so perfect, that every motion of the hand is responded to 
at once. 

The child almost immediately becomes familiar with its 
ways, and the two go on together weaving the bright colors, 
and perhaps brighter links in memory's chain. 

At first, before the weaving is attempted, the child may 
take his first lesson with strips of paste-board, and become 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 153 

accustomed to the terms over and under by " suiting the ac- 
tion to the word." 

In the materials of this gift, the several points of resem- 
blance and difference to the preceding ones are noticed, the 
new features described, the strips counted, and fanciful like- 
nesses discovered. 

As the child proceeds in this work, his taste and skill be- 
comes developed, and after a while he is desirous to invent 
some pretty pattern himself No sooner does he find himself 
capable of this, than his jjowers are wonderfully stimulated 
to new exertions, especially as these woven papers are made 
expressly to be given away, and have their greatest value in 
being connected with affectionate thoughts and intents; thus 
the child feels, unconsciously, that they are, in a double sense, 
his own. 

In this, and in similar ways, are the lessons learned, which, 
in after life, if all things favor, result in the recognition of 
spiritual truth ; in this case, that expressed in the words, "we 
receive but what we give." This makes the perfect gift ; we 
receive, and the gift is not fully our own until we pass it on 
to another, in love. 

The happiness which children feel in manifesting their love 
by outward acts, is the true foundation for love to the Lord, 
which should flow back to him in a beauteous circuit ; and 
these preparations for rational and spiritual life, should con- 
stantly be borne in mind. There is an innate life in the 
smallest seed, and full development on one plane of the mind 
jDrepares for the full growth of the next above it. 

In contrast to this careful training, how sad is that indiffer- 
ence to the comfort of others, which we constantly see in 
children ; and the inactivity of will and thought which knows 
not what it can do, oi-, if it may do ; to say nothing of the 
total incapability existing among the little ones, and older 
children, too, and through no fault of their own. 

S. K. 



154 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 



OBEDIENCE. 

My experience and observation have led me to think that 
tliere is a great deal of false reasoning about the inculcation 
of the obedience of little children. To win children to 
obedience is jDerfectly legitimate ; but coerced obedience is 
not resolvable into moral character. The only thing to be 
required of little children, as duty^ is kindness and truthful- 
ness; and the latter of these requires much skill in the 
teaching ; for to some children it has to be taught. When 
children are old enough to understand the rational necessity 
of rules and arrangements (as in schools of instruction), it 
is well to require obedience to them ; but in the family and 
the Kindergarten, little children should be subject to no 
arbitrary commands. It is of the Kindergarten that I now 
speak especially. It has been so common to look upon un- 
questioning obedience as the first duty of childhood, that 
teachers who have been engaged in the work of education, 
on other systems than Froebel's, and even those who uncon- 
sciously bring the association of ideas between goodness 
and obedience from their own childhood, — find it very diffi- 
cult to act upon another principle, I once heard a very 
deep thinker say, that he did not feel that he had any right 
to impose Ms xoill upon his children ; that he had too much 
respect for their individuality to do so, as he might not 
always judge wisely. He preferred to cultivate the con- 
science, and leave a great deal of liberty of action. I was 
then keeping school for little children, and was much struck 
with the remark, and acted upon it largely. The result of 
my action was good, and my little pupils became very 
docile. In twenty-one years of teaching, I never had to 
give up but one child for lack of power to manage it ; and 
that was a child whose intellect was a little below par, I 
act upon the same principle in the Kindergarten now ; but 
I check wrong impulses. I do not let one child impose 
upon another; but I put it upon the ground of doing right. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 155 

and not of olbedience to me. I do not like to see personal 
magnetizing exerted. I make no appeals to their feelings 
for me personally; but dwell upon my duty of making my 
children think out the matter for themselves. I make the 
duty of using the " thinkers " God has given them, the high- 
est duty ; for thought will always guide them right, if they 
use their consciences. I never call them naughty; I only 
show them that they have acted without thought. Espe- 
cially, I never force them to work ; I make the work as en- 
chanting as I can, but if a child says " I am tired," I never 
go behind it. It may mean, "I do not wish to go on," or, "I 
am disgusted," or, " I am discouraged," &c., but I yield the 
point, vmless I can interest the imagination in some way 
to continue. Sometimes a difficulty occurs, and I know 
that the little brain wearies very soon of an exertion. If I 
can help the child surmount the difficulty, he will like to go 
on ; but the over efforts may have been exhausting, and if I 
think so, I often ask, "Are you tired," and if he says, "Yes," 
I say, "Lay it down then and rest, and the next time you 
will know how to go on easily." I see younger teachers, 
who have not had the Jib^nle sympathy with their own chil- 
dren's brains that mothers have, enforce their own wishes 
very much, and often carry their point ; but I think it a mis- 
take. It destroys a child's confidence in the teacher. 

But I am very strenuous not to let another occupation be 
substituted for the one that has wearied, but say, " Sit quite 
still, if you do not wish to work any more, and perhaps you 
will get rested and like to go on ; " and they often take up 
the work again, because they like to be doing. The con- 
trary course would make children capricious and the victims 
of desires, than which nothing can be worse for them. The 
order and routine are beneficial to the mind, even if they 
only watch it and see others follow it. I have one little 
pupil, between three and four years of age, who has been in 
my Kindergarten eight months, but never till within a week 
has been ready to take part in the work regularly. He has 



156 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

watched others with the greatest intensity of attention, and 
has done a little weaving, sewing, &c., once in a while. 
Looking on has been his function in the Kindergarten ; and 
I have let that go on, without any strenuous efforts to make 
him work. I have been sure that he was gaining social and 
moral strength, and they confirm this from his home. He 
is very intellectual. I have no doubt he knows a great deal 
of the poetry he hears recited, for he listens to every word 
of it ; but he never opens his mouth for that or for the 
songs, although he has his favorites, and chooses one when 
his turn comes, and smiles and enjoys them all. For a long 
time he did not even smile, but watched with imperturbable 
gravity the proceedings and utterances of others. Once, 
with great vehemence, he corrected a version of a melody of 
" Mother Goose " that was transferred erroneously, and per- 
sisted that he was right, 

"Within a few days he has begun to take part. Unfortu- 
nately all the children exclaimed at the phenomenon. I say 
unfortunately, for I feared it might check him ; but it did 
not, and now I expect rapid progress. He has never been 

found fault with upon this point. I have often said, " R 

won't know how to do this pretty thing till he is industri- 
ous," but nothing more urgent. Within a few days he has 
said, "Am I industrious?" and I have made the most of my 
pleasure in answering, " Yes, you begin to be industrious." 
Another very bright child passed three weeks in watching, 
before he would touch an article of play. He then began 
to work very intelligently. This, and nothing less, is what 
I call liberty in the Kindergarten. It is compatible with 
law and order, but passivelj so ; for the general order is not 
subverted to accommodate him, and he is learning the laws 
by observation, rather than action, till he has the impulse to 
take hold. This impulse generally comes very soon, and 
only flags, I think, from weariness or a little discouragement 
(by want of success, which is very wearying). 

It must be remembered that children are teething all 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 157 

through their childhood, and that colds, in our wretched 
climate, are constantly dimming their powers. I have 
known a child to lose a fine memory by a severe cold in the 
head. The children scream to come to Kindergarten, even 
when they are not able to do anything; and when I know 
they are not very well, I let them look on, and be my help- 
ers in little things, giving no employments but those they 
fancy. The culture goes on, as I can see ; and the facility 
of manipulation will follow as fast as they are able to give 
strength and attention to it. I dread nothing like a symptom 
of weariness or disgust which will come by enforced compli- 
ance with my suggestions. A veteran kindergartener and 
mother, like myself, said to me one day, "I do not see where 
young, inexperienced teachers can learn how to apply this 
system to little children." But the maternal instinct is very 
strong in all women, and the suggestions of experience are 
soon assimilated by those who have a natural vocation for 
the kindergarten work, and no others should undertake it. 
In the twenty years that I kept school for little children, 
before my marriage, I felt as much like a mother to my little 
jjupils as I afterwards did to my own children; and was 
often inadvertently addressed as " mamma," as I am now. 

A KINDERGARTEN MOTHER. 

Cambridge, Mass. 



EDUCATION BY LABOR. 

By Baroness MaretilioUz-Bulow, translated by M. M. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Feoebel's Intermediate Class. 

The Kindergarten, as it is now carried on, does not go all 
the way between the nursery and the school ; but this is nec- 
essary, if consistency is to be found in education. Education 
that is conformable to nature is impossible without strict con- 
nection between the treatment of each earlier age and the 



158 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

following stage; for nature knows no jumps, at least, only 
apparent ones I It always prepares for succeeding steps of 
development by those which have gone before. 

That no previous preparation, and no transition, takes 
place, if the child, as has hitherto regularly been the case, is 
transferred from his play table to the foreign world of the 
school classes, must be evident to every one. The usual 
playful impulses of children offer no points of connection, or 
very few, for instruction, even if this is object teaching in 
the fullest sense of the word. All instruction requires pi*e- 
dominent activity of the understanding, and some degree of 
original thinking, if the acquisition is not to be mere rote- 
learning, mere cramming of the memory. 

The small number of independently-thinking men, such as 
do their own thinking, and do not merely chew the cud of 
other people's thoughts, would furnish a bad testimony to 
the instruction of schools, if other reasons could not be found 
for that purpose. Various as the natural endowment and 
the capacity of thought may be, every healthy child brings 
into the world the talent which is to develop him to a certain 
degree. But original thinking depends upon experience as 
its starting point, whether it be the knowledge and science 
of the adult, or the first thinking of the child. 

As long as we leave these first experiences of children to 
themselves, that is to say, to chance, and want of clearness 
of comprehension, so long but a very imperfect foundation 
can be laid for thinking and for instruction ; and the play 
time of the earliest years remains without any connection 
with the schooling of after years. Only when the system of 
the school, which pursues by its own means a determined 
end, is brought to bear, also, to a certain degree, in relation 
to the preceding treatment of the child ; when thereby the 
earliest impressions and experiences in the world of sense 
have been seized by the child with clearness and precision — 
is the first impulse given to comparison and thereby to think- 
ing ; and only then can there be any possibility of such con- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 159 

nection. Connection always requires similarity and analogy. 
The want of thought Avith which the great majority of chil- 
dren dream away childhood, cannot prepare for subsequent 
thinking. The kindei'garten method furnishes the means of 
sustaining that developing jD^ocess of early childhood from 
the first breath of life, and in such a manner that the in- 
stinctive efforts of nature itself to that end have the intended 
result, that is to say, in the first place, the early development 
of limbs and senses, and by means of these, the first awaken- 
ing of the soul itself. Upon this beginning depends the 
farther cultivation of the intellectual life. Therefore Froe- 
bel's method makes use, within the fir^t two years, of the 
little gymnastic exercises of limbs and hands, together with 
songs, which the mother must make applicable, as is indicated 
in Froebel's " Mother and Cosset Songs." It makes use of 
the natural dandling and caressing by mothers, which only a 
mother can carry on with perfect success ; for her motherly 
love fears no trouble, and makes her capable of understanding 
and respecting the manifestations of the human being in the 
inarticulate expressions of her child, and hovp" to play, so that 
the developing aim of the childish play can be reached. Such 
motherly guidance must make use, according to Froebel, of 
nature and the objects surroiinding the child, in order to 
awaken, to satisfy, and to cultivate the senses. But to culti- 
vate the senses means to make them capable of taking in the 
things of the external world clearly and with precision, in 
order that their images may be reflected in the child's soul, 
and awaken that power of representation which is necessary 
in order that they may reproduce objectively the things in 
the mind. 

All the objects around a child are not equally adapted to 
this end. The very complicated ones are not at all suited, 
nor all at once, even all that are found in every nursery. 

The kindergarten method offers to the mother quite simple 
bodies, first the very simplest one, the ball, as the form easiest 
to be apprehended. As nature lets all her organisms go forth 



160 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

from this original form (the original cell), which is spherical, 
so knowledge of form starts most safely and easily from this 
original form. 

To distinguish one form from another is still difficult for 
the unpracticed eye of the child. Education has to facilitate 
it ; for all education consists only in facilitating and sustain- 
ing itself out of the natural development of self-evident 
knowledge proceeding from itself. This knowledge, or dis- 
crimination of form (unconsciously as impression), is only 
made easy, when a forai very different froni the one first per- 
ceived, or quite in contrast with it, stands forth. The cube 
serves as the contrast to the ball, for it opposes to the one 
curved surface of the ball, its manifold planes, corners, and 
edges. (The most elementary form in nature, the crystal, is 
six-sided, or a cube.) When two forms are discriminated 
(separated for analysis), or are known as separate objects, 
they must again find their resemblance through connecting 
links, in order that the connection may not be wanting, which 
is necessary to all perception. Among the connecting links 
by which all existing contrasts are united, there is always 
one that, as the principal link, lies in the middle, that is, pos- 
sesses, equally, similarity with both contrasts. The form 
which connects the contrasts of sphere and cube is the cylin- 
der, uniting two flat faces and the curved one. 

Therefore these objects, as materials of play, yield the sim- 
plest perception of that law, " The connection of opposites^'' 
as means for the discrimination of form. And this law is 
the law of all knowledge, and, at the same time, the law of 
all mental activity. 

But many will exclaim, is the new-born child to compre- 
hend this philosophical abstraction ? To assume this, would 
certainly be the height of imbecility ! The pertinent counter 
question is, does connection exist between the perception, as 
well as the conception consequent upon it, and the thinking 
power of the human mind, or not? 

Certainly, in the new-born child there is no mention of 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 161 

comprehension, but of sensuous perception only. Just as 
far as it receives and is conscious of its bodily needs of nour- 
ishment, warmth, &c., its senses are conscious of impressions 
from the external world. Light affects the eyes otherwise 
than darkness does ; the red color otherwise than the white ; 
the tone of an instrument affects the ear otherwise than the 
howling of the storm ; the sense of touch is differently af- 
fected by the cold stone and the warm hand, &c. That 
these are sensuous perceptions in the earliest age of child- 
hood, and that out of these perceptions spring gradually the 
first ideas, this no one will deny! 

Unequal as the bodily development and the growth of the 
child now are, according as it receives the right and suitable 
nourishment and clothing, or not, no less unequal will be the 
development of the senses, according as these or those im- 
pressions affect them. And surely the means chosen for this 
development with intellect, knowledge, and design, will be 
more conducive to it than those offered by chance. A child 
left, from birth, with hardly any impressions upon its senses 
(like Casper Hauser, shut up in a dark cellar) is scarcely 
developed at all. 

Also, if connection exists between the first perception of 
the young child and the thinking of the mature man, because 
the spiritual development, like that of the natural organiza- 
tion, pi'oceeds consecutively, — its beginning and its end 
should be specially connected. The nature of the first per- 
ception (except in various degrees of clearness and individual 
consciousness), whether vague and indefinite, or clear and 
definite ; whether in an orderly or a disorderly manner, &c., 
must be of great importance to the later thinking, and of 
immediate influence upon the first thinking, demanded by 
school instruction. 

If this thinking is to be original thinking, it is to ground 
itself upon the earliest experiences and sensuous impressions of 
the child, therefore these experiences and this thinking must 
correspond with each other, and be in connection with each 



162 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

ExiDerierices can only be founded upon the things of the visi- 
ble world. But these things are only knowable and distin- 
guishable through their qualities. All things possess the 
qualities of form, color, size, number, material, sound, weight, 
taste, smell, &c., only in various degrees and proportions. 
If the child is to become acquainted with these qualities 
later, it must first receive impressions of them which deter- 
mine the conceptions of them in his soul. And it is these 
impressions which Froebel's materials of play are fitted to 
give, with greater clearness and precision than is attainable 
by accident. And these materials should be used just in 
the first period of the child's life, when impressions received 
cling so much the more firmly, the less power of resistance 
there is in the unconscious soul. 

To facilitate the first perceptions of things, for example, 
is not only to begin with one object, and that the simplest, 
but this same object must also serve for recognizing the 'dif- 
ferent qualities. Thus the sphere, in the form of the six 
balls, serves for the distinction of colors, as well as for the 
first perception of form. Each of the six balls, made use of 
for that end, has one of the colors of the rainbow (prism), 
that is, one of the three primary or three secondary colors. 
First, the primaiy colors are shown, one after the other, and 
then the secondary colors, composed of the three primary 
colors, which are mixed, for example, red and blue (opposites) 
are shown, with violet as the connection ; yellow and blue, 
with green as the connection ; red and yellow, with orange 
as the connection. Thus is a scale of color formed, with 
which, by singing, is associated the simple chord of sound 
(primary sound, fifth, and third). All the balls together 
form the harmony of colors, which mixed, produce white light. 

When the child has received impressions of all the other 
general qualities of matter, as well as those of form and color, 
the elements of things are thereby given him, a plastic alpha- 
bet, as it were, in order that he may learn to read the book 
of concrete things that surrounds him, the first book which 
children must learn to read. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 163 

There is not room here to display, completely, the means 
of Froebel's method ; according to its theory, the process of 
thought which carries back the first learning of the child to 
its eai'liest impressions, can only be indicated. Froebel did 
not invent the process of the child's development ; he only 
discovered the way in which the child naturally proceeds, in 
order himself to proceed from the educational side in a simi- 
lar manner. The mind of the child, while it is still only 
instinctive, or standing upon the stage of instinctive life, 
cannot be compelled to go this way or that, and its develop- 
ment follows the traces marked out for it by nature. But 
this process of nature (natural way) is always logical, and 
according to reason, that is, according to law. He who has 
discovered it, can also find the means to proceed in this law- 
abiding way, in order to support the natural process of cul- 
ture. For the development of the human being must be 
supported, even in its first stage, or there can be no such 
thing as the education of the earliest childhood. The im- 
pressions of childhood, left to chance^ cannot be called educa- 
tion. The less self-reliant and the weaker the powers of the 
child yet are, the more these powers need help and support, 
or education. This A, B, C, of things, for the age before the 
school-age, is more indispensable than the later A, B, C, of 
books. 

No artificiality can take place where one follows the course 
of nature, and begins, like nature, with the simplest, in order 
to proceed in a consecutive manner to the complicated. But 
that the mind of the child necessarily proceeds thus, and 
perceives first one thing and then another, not all at once, 
first the simpler, then the more complicated, — an intelligent 
thinker cannot doubt. And it is not to be forgotten that the 
great and confused manifoldness of things, in the surround- 
ings of the child, is not taken away from him; the objects 
of the play are to serve only to help him orient himself in 
his surroundings. This play itself retains the natural char- 
acter of the unconscious and apparently aimless trifling of 



164 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

this stage of life. The normal forms first looked at, and then 
handled, in the first period of life, bequeath to the childish 
conception a succession of forms which are the preparation 
for a succession of thoughts, because they, like all thinking 
were arranged logically, or according to law. The properly 
and sharply developed senses lead to just observation and 
comparison, and thus the elements of thinking are set in 
motion ; and the Kindergarten has, in its normal form, the 
foundation upon which and with which to prosecute the in- 
ductive method. The law or principle of activity, inborn in 
the childish mind (the connection of oppositesj, has marked 
itself as a sensuous impression ; and the Kindei-garten uses 
the same to serve as a guide-post to the child in its produc- 
tive occupations, in the shaping of its forms, and the com- 
bining of its figures. 

[To he continued.'] 



SCHOOL or MODELLING. 

Mr. Spring will be ready to receive pupils at his studio, 
in Eagleswood, Perth Amboy, New Jersey, by the first of 
July, at five dollars a week ; and board can be had at the 
Eagleswood Hotel, which is within a few yards. 

As we have said before, it is worth while for any one who has 
eyes and hands, to learn to model ; and Mr. Spring is a most 
encouraging and inspiring teacher. Parents, school teachers, 
and kindergarteners, cannot do better than to avail them- 
selves of the opportunity. A week's lessons would be worth 
one's while to take. In the summer play-time, one might 
make himself, or herself, quite an expert; and Mr. Spring- 
can show scientists how they may illustrate the progress of 
form in the vegetable and zoological world, from the primi- 
tive ball ; and solid geometry, conic sections, &c., from the 
primitive cube. 

But w^hile we advise kindergarteners to model under Mr. 
Spring's direction, we would warn them against departing 
from Froebel's plan for the children in the Kindergarten. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 165 

Little children are not yet ready for the sciences of vegeta- 
tion, zoology, or geotnetry, and are not to be forced, or even 
allured, into these, before they are seven years old. They 
are only to be superintended in their play with the clay. 
Let them make balls as long as they will, and out of the 
balls make fruits, which they can pile into little plates ; or 
baskets, flowers, according to their fancy; and for objects of 
this kind, let them have the models that nature afibrds. They 
dearly love to make eggs in nests. By and by let them pound 
the soft clay ball into a cube, by striking it rhythmically on 
the table, five times on one side, then five times on the oppo- 
site side, till they have six sides ; and when they have accom- 
plished this, they can cut the cube with a fine wire into 
geometrical forms of various crystals ; or, as they will gener- 
ally do, develop forms of household furniture, &c., out of the 
cube. The chief value of the kindergai'ten modelling, is to 
give a sense of plastic power. It is more natural to make solid 
form than to represent it by planes, or shells, or drawing ; 
and this is made evident to any looker on, by seeing how 
children always prefer it to any other occupation, though 
perfection of modelling is the most unattainable thing of all. 



We copy from the JBoston Daily Advertiser, of June 1, 
a report of the closing exercises of Miss Garland's training 
class. 

" On Wednesday, the 26th ult., there was an exhibition of 
Miss Garland's training-school for kindergarteners at the chapel 
of the Hollis-street church. The day was favorable, and not 
only the audience crowded the chapel, but more than got in 
had to go away for want of room. On the window-sills, and on 
the tables at the sides, and hanging on the walls, was the 
work done by the young ladies, in all the different materials 
provided by Froebel's plan ; and no one could look at it and 
fail to recognize that to carry children through such a course 
of work, without giving them any patterns, but only guiding 



166 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

their spontaneous activity by directions given in words, was 
to start them on a career educating their fingers for all tlie 
arts, and unfolding their understandings into all the principles 
of artistic and useful work. 

"The essays of the young ladies, four out of the fifteen which 
Miss Garland informed the audience were most of them quite 
as good, were chosen to be read in piiblic, because they es- 
pecially answered the questions first asked by those who in- 
quire about the Kindergarten. 

" Miss Chapin, in showing the necessity and therefore right 
of children to this kind of education from their elders, proved 
that it must be economy for the public to furnish this physical 
and moral training to all the coming generation ; and among 
the spontaneous addresses given afterwards, Mr. Wilson added 
the other argument, by showing how costly it was to the city 
to deal with the disorder and crime that now were being 
inevitably taught to thousands of children, who live in the 
streets several years of their most susceptible j^eriod before 
the legal age of going to primaiy school comes. (Mr. Wil- 
son made a very strong appeal to the avidience, in behalf of 
the Charity Kindergartens of the North End, that they should 
be supported until the city should adopt them into the public 
system.) 

"The thoughtful paper of Mrs. Gardner upon the value of 
the Kindergarten, in so influencing the imagination as to 
keep pure and happy the heart of children, instead of letting 
it run wild as it does now into all morbid extremes, was 
equally worthy the consideration of the directors of our pub- 
lic education. The large-eyed and lai'ge-brained children 
that abound in our excitable American society need, perhaps 
more than the children of any other nationality, the quieting 
effect of these exercises of fanciful reproduction, that lead 
them into appreciation of nature, which is all a lesson and 
discourse of law and mutual interaction. The orderly activity 
of the Kindergarten cultivates the imagination in a healthy 
manner, by giving it scope in God's w^orld instead of that of 
the prince of this world. 

" The charming essay on ' Our Boy ' gave the application 
of this system to universal childhood in the happiest manner, 
as was proved — if by nothing else — by the bright impromptu 
it provoked from Mr. Chaney. The other essay, given by a 
lady who has studied the system with the class, more for 
general culture than with professional purpose, happily proved 
that this special training is the finish of the higher education 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 167 

of women, preparing them to be beneficial factors of a general 
social good. Ladies who are directors of our numerous chari- 
ties for motherless children, need exactly that which Miss 
Lombard has evidently attained, in the training-school of 
Miss Garland this winter. 

" One feature of the exhibition, was the performance by the 
young ladies of some of the children's plays. Miss Garland 
introduced them with the remark, that there was always a 
great pressure vipon her, at these times of exhibition, to bring 
forward the children and display them at play and at work. 
But it was impossible to do this in consistency with Froebel's 
principle, which was growth from an inward motive, given to 
the child in instinct, and to be protected in its unconscious- 
ness by the kindergartener, from degenerating, or being per- 
verted into the motive of display. Therefore, at considerable 
self-sacrifice, these young ladies had consented to show the 
public the form and nature of a few of the plays. 

" After the exhibition was over, Mr. Boyden, in a sympa- 
thetic speech, recognized with special approbation, this idea 
expressed by Miss Garland ; and said how unwise he considered 
a great deal of school exhibition of children, who were thus 
robbed of the innocence of their spontaneous life, even by 
Sunday-school exhibitions, where, above all things, self-forget- 
fulness and humility ought to be sacredly protected, nor seem- 
ing have any chance to take the place of being. 

" The exercises were closed by a few words addressed to 
the class by Miss Peabody, who presided." 

[The first article in our present number gives one of the 
papers referred to in the above notice ; and v/e wish we had 
space to give the rest, for we have read them all, as a part 
of the examination, on which we gave our signature to the 
diplomas. We think there is no better way of informing the 
public what an opportunity it has of obtaining the true edu- 
cation for the little ones. 

The mothers in the audience seemed to be especially ira- 
l^ressed with the consecrated spirit in which they see the true 
kindergartener woi-ks. It will be seen that there are more 
than a dozen of these excellent teachers to be had, though 
some of them have ah-eady engaged their coming work.] 



We hope that in our August number we may be able to 
give an account of the closing exercises of Mrs. Kriege's, and 
of Mrs. Kraus-Boelte's training classes; for both these ladies 
have graduated quite a number of pupils the past month. 



168 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

We have from a Washington newspaper the following 
notice of the closing of Miss Marwedel's training class : 

"As most of our readers are aware, Miss Emma Marwedel, 
a German lady of intelligence and culture, and an enthusias- 
tic educator, has established and successfully conducted, for 
several years past, a model Kindergarten, which is patronized 
by many of our first citizens. Actuated by a desire to diffuse 
a knowledge of this admirable institution, " the paradise of 
childhood," she has established, also, a normal department to 
train others in the method of teaching it, and the first class, 
six in number, graduated a few evenings since. 

"The exercises, which were held in the rooms, No. 800 
Eighteenth street, were comparatively private, only a few 
personal friends of Miss Marwedel and the graduates being 
present. Specimens of the work done by the graduates were 
displayed on tables. They were executed in excellent taste, 
with great care in every detail, and, at the same time, in 
accordance with the scientific principles that underlie the 
system, proving, even to the superficial observer, that the 
occupations of the Kindergarten are something more than a 
pleasant, but unmeaning and mechanical pastime. 

" Each of the graduates read a very interesting essay on the 
subject of kindergarten education, and Miss Marwedel, after 
a farewell address, in which she enjoined upon them to become 
benefactors to the human race in the field of education, 
presented to them their diplomas. Their names are Misses 
Carrie S. Leland and Jennie Russell, of Massachusetts ; Mrs. 
Jane Thorpe, of New York ; Misses Rebecca Noerr, Helen 
Schmidt, and Olga Hesselback, of this city. After the con- 
clusion of these exercises, the remainder of the evening 
was passed very pleasantly in social intercourse, enlivened 
by some of the kindergarten plays and marches with songs. 

"As an evidence of the increasing interest in the kindergar- 
ten instruction, and the demand for qualified teachers, we 
may mention that four out of the six graduates have already 
secured places ; two as assistants to Miss Marwedel ; one at 
Crisfield, Md., where the people are about erecting a building 
specially for the school; and one in Massachusetts." 

[One of the above-mentioned class, who is not yet engaged, 
is Mrs. Thorpe, who has been a successful teacher of music 
hitherto, well known in northern New Jersey and in New 
York city ; and has qualified herself for a kindergai'tener, on 
a pure impulse of love of little children and faith in Froebel's 
idea], — Editor. 



YOL. 11. AUGUST, 1874. No. 8. 



A PERIODICAL OF 24 PAGES. 




itii^rjgajito JB^ssenpr, 



EDITED BY 



ELIZABETH P. PEABODY. 



TERMS ONE DOLLAE PER TEAR, IS ADVANCE, 

Payable to the Editor, 19 Follen Street, Cambridge, Mass. 

Subscribers for 1874 can liave tlie numbers for 1873 at half price — 
fifty cents — as long as the edition holds out. These numbers contain 
important matter that will not be repeated. 

TERMS OF ADVERTISEMENT. 

25 cents a line for short advertisements. 

15 cents a line for advertisements of 12 lines. 

Yearly advertisements as by agreement. 

Advertisements for the inside of the covers are solicited, especially 
from publishers, manufacturers of Kindergarten materials, and teachers 
of any branches of knowledge. 



^- 



Kins. KBAUS-BOELTE'S KINDERGARTEN 

will be open in September, at No. 26 East 50tli Street, between 
Madison and Fifth Avenues. Also ber Training Class for Teachers, 
and Mothers' Class. She will be assisted by Professor Kraus, in the 
Intermediate Class, composed of the older children prepared in the 
Kindergarten. 

Address, 20 East 60th Street, New York. 

Though" in the same house, the Kindergarten forms no part of 
D'Aert's Institute. 

MISS GJlRLANDj 

Assisted by Miss Weston, will resume her Kindergarten in Boston, 
October 1st, and open a Normal Class early in November. A 
thorough English education, good general culture, and ability to 
sing, are requisite for admission to the latter. 
During the summer, address. Miss Mary Garland, Bristol, Conn. 

The Gliaoiicy Hall Kiiidergartefl and Preparatory Departiiieiits 

"Will open for both sexes, in September, in the new school-house on Boylston 
Street, near Dartmouth. The Kindergarten will be limited to fourteen pupils. In 
the Preparatory, part of every session will be devoted to French conversation. 
Both rooms will have the sun all day, and v\ ill be warmed in part by open fires. 

For applications, catalogues, etc., see advertisements of the Upper Department 
in the daily papers. CUSHINGS & LADD. 

KINDERGARTEN TRAINING GLASS, 

31 North Fifth Street, Columbus, Ohio. 



Located at Worthington, Ohio (nine miles north of Columbus). 
CONDITIONS.— Applicants must possess genuine sympathy with childhood, a 

thorough English education, and some musical ability. 
TIME.— The Class will be opened in September. The course will extend through 

six months, comprising two lessons per week in Theory, with observation 

and practice in the Kindergarten. 
TERMS.— Tuition for the whole course, $50. 
Boarding.— In Columbus, can be obtained at $6.50 per week. In Worthington, 

at $3 per week. 

Address, Mrs. JOHN OGDEN, 31 N. Pifth St., Columbus, Ohio. 



ittd^tptten ^mtnpx. 



Vol. II.— august, 1874.— No. 8. 



EDUCATION BY LABOR, ACCOSDING TO PROEBEL'S PRINCIPLE.* 

BY BEBTHA VON MABENHOLTZ. TEANSLATED BY M. M. 

PREFACE. 

The labor question demands solution more and more press- 
ingly, and it is more and more generally recognized that 
this solution is bound up with that of an improved popular 
education. For, in their present form, education and the 
public schools do not meet the demands of the present time, 
in respect to industrial qualifications. The chief of these de- 
mands is to wake up every workman's consciousness upon 
the aim, the means, and the mode of his particular work, and 
upon its conformity to law, that is, to create in him the 
knowledge of the rule upon which he works. But this 
rule, in every case, can be no other than the general one 
underlying all creativeness and production, and which has 
till now been hidden in darkness. 

The discovery of a new truth in educational science is 
needed, — a truth respecting the human being in his essence 
and development, — which shall find its application in edu- 
cational art. This new truth is to be found in Froebel's sys- 

* Published by Adrole Estlin, Berlin. This book does not aim to be an ex- 
haustive statement of Froebel's system, but rather a glance at the principal 
thoughts involved in it, and a pointing out of the principle that lies at its founda- 
tion. It is written in the hope of stimulating to deeper investigation and more 
comprehensive treatment of the subject. It is dedicated to all who hold that a new 
idea of the development of the human understanding is of more service than the 
hoarded knowledge of centuries. 



2 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

tern, — but it is as yet unrecognized by the world, and 
nothing is seen in the Kindergarten but mere child's play ! 
There is no conception that the Kindergarten is founded 
upon a new understanding of the human essence. 

The great in the little is always overlooked at first. Each 
age refuses to listen to its own prophetic voices, condemning 
them before the truth is recognized in them. But that which 
an age brings forth — what is born in it, is just what it needs 
for the fulfilment of its own problem ; — if it casts this aside, 
it avenges itself, if not on the present, at any rate on the 
next generation. It is not the point whether the truth which 
the prophets have to announce be great or small — but that 
it must take some form in order to be received and compre- 
hended (and, indeed, truth is great in every form ! ) 

Froebel has shared the fate of other prophets, great and 
small. He was not listened to, but condemned when his 
living voice was crying to his contemporaries " Come, let 
us live for our children," that the new generation might be 
fitted for answering the questions which lie in wait for it ; 
questions which the passing generation can never solve. 

"And to fit the young generation for answering these 
questions, Froebel would use child^s play ! the heroic deeds 
of the future must germinate in gardens of children ! " ex- 
claims the irony of the present, smiling compassionately at 
the ardor of the enthusiast. 

But have not all the heroes and benefactors of the world 
lain in the cradle ? Have not great natures which — horn in 
millions — are unfolded but rarely in each century, first 
grown to maturity in this or that direction — through cher- 
ishing and educating care? Is it not proved that great men, 
in most cases, have had especially good mothers ? 

The great question of our time is directed to the principle 
and method of growth {das Werden). The development of 
that which has been attained {das Gewordenen) will teach 
how to gain farther progress ; how the old can become new 
while the bud is ripening to fruit. " How did political insti- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 3 

tutions originate?" asks the politician. The social and 
national economist ask, "what origin have the manners 
and ciistoms of peoples? how do they acquire their wealth 
and increase their riches?" The naturalist and physicist 
take the microscope and contemplate the life and strife of 
nature from the original cell; and investigate the forces 
which make the blade of grass grow, and set the telegraph 
in motion. Whoever wishes to find and reveal what helps 
to progress in any form, goes back to the origin and begin- 
ning of the development of what now exists. And, above 
all things, the being of man must be studied in its germ ; we 
must go back to the source of his growth if better compre- 
hension of it is to lead to a better fosterir.g of his develop- 
ment. All great men were once little children: — as the 
shoot, so the tree ; as the child, so the man. 

The great discoveries and inventions recorded in the 
world's history have had reference for the most part not to 
that which man is of himself, but to his surroundings, to the 
gratification of his wants, to the increase of his enjoyments, 
to the world outside of him ; seldom to the investigation 
into his own being, or its improvement. Hence, the science 
of man is the youngest of all the sciences, and has not yet 
gone beyond its A, B, C. Physiology has indeed dissected 
and analyzed his body to its finest nerve-fibres ; but psychol- 
ogy and philosophy have occupied themselves only with the 
grown man, and they are at a standstill in the region of ab- 
straction, while pedagogy and the school have considered 
the formation of the intellect exclusively. But the science 
of man begins at his birth ; the child, as the germ of the 
man, is its first object. Whoever understands the germ, 
whoever nurtures it in conformity with its destiny, under- 
stands and nurtures the man. Upon that which men are 
and become, depends the happiness of each one and the hap- 
piness of nations, far more than upon that which they have 
already. Although in the field of national economy science 
is opening the richest mines, and multiplying material pos- 



4 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

sessions a thousand fold, yet without inward elevation and 
increased moral worth, the general happiness will never be 
truly promoted, the golden age of undisturbed, peaceful 
prosperity, /br all^ will never appear. 

Therefore we must not shove aside the consideration and 
study of the children and youth; and the Kindergarten 
.must be counted among the acquisitions of the present; 
though to expect the universal improvement of the world 
from this institution alone^ would be childish folly. Not 
upon one truth, one thought, one act, not upon the greatest 
depends the salvation of the world. Each and all must con- 
tribute to it. If a new spirit is to arise in the human being 
himself, then must a new inspiration penetrate the atmos- 
phere of life in every direction. If a new thought is to 
ripen new fruits in the field of education, it must not only 
embrace the first stage of life, it must take in the whole sea- 
son of youth and transform all it touches. Only when Froe- 
bel's thought lives and thrives in the family and school as 
well as in the Kindergarten, can it create better men by 
better education. 

The directing spirits of every age have always felt obliged 
to lay stress upon that which had hitherto been unrecognized, 
and to make prominent in all departments of life the an- 
tithesis to the dominant onesidedness. For the bettering of 
the educational ideas of his time, Rousseau was obliged to 
vindicate the rights of the individual as such, and also the ill- 
understood rights of nature. Fichte had to combat the too 
inflexible self regard of degenerate individualism, and there- 
fore made prominent the social side, — education in and for 
the whole community. Pestalozzi took up the interest of the 
oppressed, and from the education of those who were quite 
neglected, laid the foundation of the modern education of the 
people, and opposed object teaching to the prevalent abstract 
method of instruction. 

Froebel combines all these momenta^ dkudi would equally 
regard the individual and the social man ; give the family 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 5 

and the life outside the family the same educating influence, 
and make both of these factors of human life work upon 
childhood from the beginning. As the first of his assistants 
he called upon the female sex, (that it, as the mother of man- 
kind, may become at last its true educator,) to learn the art 
and science of this calling which has been peculiarly assigned 
to it. The renovated and sanctified family is in his view the 
beginning of the renewing of society, because the family is 
the elementary link of communion in church and state. But 
how can the family become the fountain of new and original 
life for a rising generation that is to regenerate a dead so- 
ciety with new and original points of view and with creative 
power, unless some new and original thought shall enkindle 
it ? izundend hinein fallt.) 

The present generation is sick with knowing^ and can only 
be made healthy by doing. The powers which in the youth 
of the race contended with the forces of nature and the mon- 
ster of savagery (wildnesse) were spent later in prize-combats 
and battles, or in crusades and tournaments : these powers 
now rest in part on the school-bench, and later fall a prey to 
Philistinism, or are squandered in the empty delirium of 
pleasure. Childhood needs a larger scope for the exercise of 
its powers ; youth a substitute {JErsazes) for the heroic deeds 
of the past, since unused power, which serves not for good, 
turns to evil. But youth has other forces than those which 
the school, that is, the literary school, makes demands upon. 
Only the slow method of individual labor and individual ex- 
perience can prevent that precocity which like a worm gnaws 
every bud that germinates in the child's soul, and kills its 
own thinking because the thinking of the old exhausts the 
soil like a borer. {Eindringling.) But the moral power 
suffers a still greater injury, for the mere apprehension of 
right and wrong never teaches how to do right or to conquer 
the passions, and sin is only doubled when it is recognized as 
such / that is, wrong doing only becomes sin when it is con- 
scious to itself Rousseau is right when he says " Every too 
early knowledge plants the germ of some vice." 



6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

The latest pedagogical reformers have all tried to intro- 
duce an education for work, or at least to use work as an 
assistant in education. Pestalozzi, Fellenberg, Fourier, Lan- 
caster, Owen, cfec, have all declared learning and working, 
intellectual and bodily exercises, to be indispensable for 
childhood and youth, and have introduced them into their 
educational institutions. These institutions and all those 
modelled upon them, (in which field and garden culture, 
handicrafts of all kinds, and bodily exercises have alternated 
with instruction,) have not by any means yet been estimated in 
their whole importance ; the good accomplished by them has 
not been sufficiently recognized; otherwise they would have 
been more widely spread. But there is a ground for them 
which was unrecognized till Froebel came. In those institu- 
tions, bodily and mechanical labor alternate with instruction, 
but are not the means of instruction. Therefore much time is 
drawn away from instruction to enable the pupils to gain 
the necessary mechanical dexterity; and those pupils who 
are to prepare themselves for learned departments, higher 
offices, and public places, are hindered too much to be able 
to prepare for their examinations and satisfy the demands 
of positive knowledge for their callings. Herein may be 
a chief reason that until now the industrial schools have been 
used only for reform hx)uses, contrivances for the improve- 
ment of juvenile criminals, but only rarely as appendages to 
literary schools and the higher educational institutions. 

But there are two conditions to be fulfilled, if labor as a 
factor of education is to find general application to all classes 
of society. One of these conditions is, to transform work in 
such a manner that it may be intellectual as well as mechan- 
ical discipline, that it may become a part of instruction in 
the full sense of the word, and consequently unite intellect- 
ual and bodily training. The other condition is, that body 
and mind be not only generally cultivated in the earliest 
childhood, but that mechanical dexterity should also be 
partly attained in the first years of life, and attained truly 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 7 

while the child is active — not merely mechanically, but at 
the same time with its intellectual powers ; since at no time 
less than in earliest childhood should the bodily and intel- 
lectual powers be put into activity separately, that being the 
time when the bodily existence ( Wesen) yet predominating, 
has to make its claims felt, and the soul is developing itself 
in and with the organs. 

But this problem Froebel has solved by his kindergarten 
method, in which his gymnastic play exercises all the powers 
and organs in a natural manner, and the rule applied in play 
ing, {rhythm the fundamental law of all activity practised in 
playing) leads even the young child to free creativeness. 

Thus are work, play, and instruction (self-instruction) 
welded into one as preparation ( Voruhung) for all the 
demands of later life, and truly without in any way preju- 
dicing the innocence {Sarmlosigkeit) of the earliest child- 
hood, or its play ; on the contrary offering to the originality 
of that age the life element befitting it. 

It will perhaps be asked, " How can such contradictions be 
reconciled?", and yet they are reconciled by Froebel's 
method, as many a genial thought solves apparently unsolv- 
able contradictions. 

If Newton found the law of gravitation which regulates 
the motion of the heavenly bodies, why may not Froebel 
have found the gravitation law of human motion or activity, 
that is, of the human spirit ? 

A law must be at the foundation of the activity of man, as 
well as at that of the activity of nature, if they both have 
one creator and beginner. 

The organism of our body moves strictly according to law ; 
all its functions are subjected to a fundamental law which 
bears various names. Whether called action and .reaction, 
inspiration and expiration, or " law of opposit.es," is indifierent. 
The implements of work are consciously or unconsciously 
copied from the organs and limbs of our body, those natural 
implements, and both are made use of according to the same 
rules as mechanics teach. 



8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

Activity and its necessary organs and implements are then 
mutually adapted, and therefore they must be subjected to 
the same uniform action of law. And since in every con- 
scious activity, the mind as well as the body is necessary as an 
organ, so also for the same end in both, the same principal 
must apply, and likewise for human development in general, 

■ which proceeds from the activity of all the organs. 

Philosophy has frequently searched for the law of human 
development, and has stated it in various formulae, yet has 
never brought it into practical application where it alone can 
and must be found — -rs education! But education which 
consists only in furthering and assisting natural development, 
remains without ground or foundation so long as the laws of 
the development of its subject-matter are unknown. As the 
gardener can only cherish his plants effectually when he is 
acquainted with their nature, their kind, and the conditions 
of their prosperity, that is, with the laws of their develop- 
ment, so can the care-taker of men, '^ the kindergartener," 
only reach his aim, when he knows the nature of his nurs- 
lings, and can thereby attend to the freedom of their devel- 
opment in every peculiar form. 

That it is necessary to begin every art, every trade, and in 
short, all kinds of handiwork with the elements of all know- 
ledge, every one knows. But what the elements of every 
work are — that every one does not know. 

In order to learn to read, one must first learn the A, B, C. 
To be able to work productively, one must learn the A, B, C 
of matter, and also the A, B, C of things, since all things are 
of material nature. But this A, B, C of things consists in 
their common properties, for example ; form, color, size, 
number, sound, &c. Whether we mean artistic or industrial 
work, it always has to do with form, color, dimensions, &c., 
and the organs must be carefully developed and exercised 

. therefor, if the work is to succeed. Before object teaching 
in the school undertakes this practice, things and their prop- 
erties have been perceived by the young denizens of earth — 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 9 

perceived as an impression^ not understood. But this merely 
indefinite perception does not yet give the A, B, C of things 
clearly and definitely ordered, any more than looking at 
books teaches the child the letters. 

Now this A, B, C of things which must unquestionably 
precede the A, B, C of words, since the sign (the letters) pre- 
suppose the concrete to which they refer ; this most original 
of all perceptions, of all understanding and learning, had not 
yet been found before Froebel. The things and their proper- 
ties are certainly there, they are also perceived by every 
child of sound senses, but they have not been set in order so 
as to be irresistibly impressed in their original and simplest 
elements, on the still blank tablet of the child's soul. This 
discovery and the clothing of it in the form of play, is 
Froebel's genial thought, and the new and important thing 
in his method ! 

Only in this way is it possible that the very young child 
already by his own labor, that is by self-activity, can himself 
work out his intellectual powers in their entire individuality; 
and the only proper nourishment, the milk of his earliest 
development, be administered to the young mind. The ma- 
terials which this A, B. C of the properties of things (of all 
things) represent, are far more easily to be combined for the as 
yet unpractised organs of the child, than the letters of words 
unintelligible to him ; the figures and images combined by 
himself, express the soul of the child yet hidden from himself, 
better than words could do it, just as the artist c'an express 
his idea, not in words, but only in works of art. 

But the discovery of such a plastic A, B, C is not only the 
beginning of the knowledge and mastery of the materia], it 
also brings the free methodical management of every work, 
by means of which the workman arrives at the comprehen- 
sion of its theory, and thus only is labor, to be raised to 
science, when it becomes an intellectual and individual pro- 
duct. The labor question and the educational question of 
the present time have become one, and can find their solution 



lO KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

only through each other, When the relation of human ac- 
tivity (or work) to the essence of man and to his destiny is fully 
recognized, when the history of the development of mankind 
according to its historically cultivated and psychological sig- 
nification becomes the law and standard of education, only 
then can education truly prepare the human being for his 
life work. 

But in this sense work will not only become science, it will 
serve above all as the means of spreading morality, and 
exalting the dignity of man. The spread of morality re- 
quires the conquest of selfishness, requires Love which prac- 
tises self-sacrifice for the best good of others, and the advan- 
tage of the common weal. And this love is only possible 
through the exaltation of the beautiful, through ideal con- 
templation. Work done with the consciousness of serving 
the common weal out of love for fellow-men, in the service of 
humanity, this alone can give moral elevation, as artistic 
work is able to do in the service of beauty. And in this 
ideal sense work is the highest need of our time, when the 
realistic, industrial, and material tendencies are turning the 
attention of mankind exclusively to the outward. Without 
such counterbalance, the rising generation would sink into 
the abyss of the grossest egotism and materialism. Here, 
Froebel's educational idea takes in all classes of society, not 
only workmen in a special sense but the crude mass of men 
who are still waiting to be emancipated from the mire of 
brutality and gross ignorance. For all are to be fitted to 
work for all, that is, for the deeds which regenerate life or 
bring about the solution of the social question ! 

Here, indeed, will another and fully authorized voice be 
raised and exalt Religion, the awakening of the religious 
sense, as the first means of redemption from the evils of the 
time, after acknowledging Froebel's discovery as the pro- 
moter of material well-being. To combat such an error, to 
point out and illustrate one of the principal sides of the new 
education, (since Froebel never considers an advance of 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. II 

humanity to be attainable without an advance in the know- 
ledge of the highest, and without an approach to the image 
of God) ; to make this side understood, needs a deeper pene- 
tration into the leading idea than a treatise like the present 
permits. The real understanding of the religious and christ- 
ian aspect of the matter, is first to be prepared for through 
the general understanding of it. 

The following views claim nothing more than to be a 
modest contribution, to throw light at first only on one side 
of a great thought, and to impart an impulse, so that more 
capable minds shall investigate the so little known field upon 
which Froebel added many a seed-corn to the sowing of his 
predecessors. 

The men of science, not only pedagogues, but also the 
laborers in the social province, have here to solve their prob- 
lems, and must perceive that without a new, better founda- 
tion in humanity itself, there can be improvement on no side. 
Above all is there need of human powers and their perform- 
ances. Political economy increases its wealth only thereby. 
Scientific conquest, and state, national, and social ipstitutions 
reach not their aim so long as the heavy, rude mass of gross 
ignorance bars progress. But whoever would increase the 
powers of man must develop the powers of childhood. 

Millions of powers still slumber unawakened, and countless 
germs wither unnurtured in the child's soul ; as yet the full- 
ness of childhood is not understood, and no one dreams 
what was lost in himself in the budding time of his existence. 
If society has new, higher duties to fulfil towards itself in 
the present, there is no higher one than this, to nurture the 
powers of childhood, and no obligation which insight and 
knowledge, power and capacity impose upon the individual 
can weigh more heavily than this, that new elasticity 
{Schwungkraft) be awakened in the rising generation to 
make it capable of creating the new and better organization 
of society for which we are striving. Freedom in political, 
moral, and social relations, rests upon the same divine law 



12 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

that Froebel offers as the norm, of education, as the guiding 
thread to the pupils of his Kindergarten. 

There are yet wanting minds of equal power which, re- 
thinking Froebel's thoughts, clear up what is obscure and 
imperfect in his manner of expression, fill up the gaps, and 
furnish in an intelligible manner the commentaries neces- 
sary to every new thought, although already thousands 
bring active zeal to the execution of the work. Among the 
latter, as everywhere, are a great part of those so-called 
" practical people," who pounce upon everything new, work 
at it as a mine of their own discovery, but treat every Idea 
as a chimera. The great share in the work, which comes to 
women, can only be carried out by the participation of 
the whole sex, the majority of whom are to be determined 
only by masculine authority. On that account, may the 
men who influence their time by thought or deed, not pass 
by those friends of humanity who devote their love and 
their work to their brethren in the field where ripens the 
seed of the future, by fulfilling their duty towards child- 
hood, the inheritor of their pains! 

Froebel charged women to carry out his work, but women 
must call upon men for assistance, since every truly human 
work needs the participation of both sexes. Only by the 
united work of all, can the moral powers and insight of the 
rising generation be awakened, but this is necessary in order 
to follow that one of the two streams of time which leads to 
spirituality and morality according to the will of the Most 
High Ruler of the universe, and to withstand that one which 
must lead to the abyss of complete materialization. 

Froebel's great cry to establish educational unions in 
every community, also to make the people capable of self 
help for this earnest business, died away, owing to the indif- 
ference of his contemporaries. Would that he might now be 
heard! and that the following pages may also open some 
minds and hearts to that call. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 3 



KINDEHGAETEN MUSIC. 

Mrs. Kraus-Boelte writes ; 

" I Kave looked Lady Baker's Songs thoroughly through. 
You know that songs for the voices of children of the kin- 
dergarten age ought neither to move on too high nor too 
low a key; they ought to move within the fifth. Lady 
Baker's words and melodies are very pretty, but they are 
not useful for the little ones. I said to you first, when I 
hastily looked them through, that I found them more fitted 
for the mother than for the child. Several things are so 
entirely altered that they can pass for entirely new ones, 
having no similarity with Froebel ; and I cannot help saying 
over and over again, why has not Lady Baker taken those 
songs already translated, and laid her hand on those which 
we have only in German ? You said you would make a 
postscriptum, to my answer to Henrietta. If you do, do not 
say that I approve of Lady Baker's Songs /br the Kinder- 
garten, for I do not. I think they have lovely melodies, etc., 
but I think — nay, I am sure — if applied to the children of 
the Kindergarten and nursery, we cannot use them. Froebel 
could give the right music and words, for his idea and prin- 
ciple were in everything, though sometimes not so beautiful 
as one could wish for. Here is the point of the difficulty. 
People of the highest gifts, but without having made Froe- 
bel's idea thoroughly their own, cannot avoid mistakes. 
Therefore, once more I say, let us keep Froebel pure until 
we have something better. You will by-and-by find out 
that I am right. It is not any faultfinding of mine. I only 
want to preserve Froebel's system in its purity; and the 
danger is, particularly in this country, to be led astray too 
fast on all points. The voice of the little child must be 
exercised, not strained. Here, as at every point, we must 
assist iuhe natural development only, not drive. Hothouse 
plants are beautiful, but they are not so healthy and strong 
as others." 



14 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

The editor would remark that Lady Baker's Songs are 
published under the title of " Songs for the Nursery ; " and, 
therefore, are intended — as Mrs. Kraus advises — rather for 
the mother than the child. 



INDEPENDEHOY OF KINDES&ABTEHS. 

A PRACTICAL method of spreading Kindergartens is a 
subject that j)erpetually presents itself to the friend of Froe- 
bel's Reform. Ultimately they must be recognized as the 
only proper foundation for our public school system, and be 
made the primary grade. But the authorities that regulate 
the public schools are not easy to reach and instruct in the 
characteristic differences between gardening childrerCs na- 
tures., which is a developing process, and instructing their 
minds. 

With all their reading of the Bible, men seem to have over- 
looked, that, in the original garden, in which God planted 
man, there was a Tree of Life over against the Tree of 
Knowledge, the fruits of which, it is implied, would, had 
they been eaten first, have enabled him to digest the knowl- 
edge which gave death instead of the likeness to gods, which 
was sought in violation, or at least in recklessness, of law. 
To talk plain American, instead of Hebrew, we would say 
that education in knowledge is destructive, if the learner has 
not the religious and moral development to make of knowl- 
edge the right use ; and our school committees do not yet 
SQB finely enough to appreciate the importance of Si prepara- 
tion of the learner for going to the schools of instruction. 
They will agree that the body is to be nursed into a healthy 
condition and sufficient stature ; but they do not see that it 
is equally necessary to nurse the heart into a capacity of re- 
ceiving and dealing with knowledge ; and that the heart as 
well as the body is nurtured by playful exercises, not antago- 
nizing but sympathizing with the child's spontaneity. To 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 5 

make the child happy is as much a duty of the kindergar- 
tener as of the nurses. 

And therefore we have proposed that the churches, which 
are even more universally diffused than public schools, should 
undertake to make a Kindergarten in their several neighbor- 
hoods, the denominational differences not affecting children 
who cannot read. 

But, in point of fact. Kindergartens are apt to be attached 
to private schools, as their primary department. This plan 
has only succeeded so far as the teacher of the school has 
understood, that the school methods must not be introduced ; 
that the Kindergarten must be in a different and discon- 
nected room ; and that the stillness, enforced order, and 
characteristic repression of the school has no place in the 
Kindergarten. We have known one admirable Kindergar- 
ten spoiled by being adopted into a school establishment on 
occasion of the loss of its kindergartener. The new kinder- 
gartener was competent, and has succeeded since, in her own 
house ; but she could not harmonize her action with that of 
the principal of the school, without sacrificing the main prin- 
ciple of the kindergarten method. Even Mrs. Kraus-Boelte 
found it necessary to have her Kindergarten independent; 
and though she has removed her Kindergarten into the same 
house with the D'Aert Institute, it has not become a part of 
it. Only by being wholly independent of every controlling 
influence but that of God, she said, could she do justice to 
the children. 

The idea of Froebel, to which Mrs. Kraus constantly refers, 
and which people here and every where are most apt to lose 
sight of — or rather not get sight of — is this, namely, that 
the point of departure in every thing, is not to be imposed 
upon the child, because God gives the point of departure to 
him, in the instinctive tendencies ; and therefore the mother, 
kindergartener, and teacher of the young, should find out and 
take the child's own point of departure. Natural develop- 
ment is development from that, growth in short. The 



l6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

other method produces an artificial action and result, is 
Chinese gardening versus English. 

There is no kindergartener in America, if any where per- 
haps, that has a clearer perception and deeper feeling of this 
idea of Froebel, than Mrs. Kraus. The method of her Kin- 
dergarten is to vivify the child's self -activity. To meet each 
little individual with a full, over-flowing expression of inter- 
est and sympathy, is, with her, the first thing. In the first 
place she has it herself, she seems to have entered into cora-"^ 
munion with the Creator's own impulse of creating beings 
to love, and to inspire with love of others. The consequence 
is, that the children believe in her love and confide in her. 
They are sure that she will be interested in all their little 
notions; that she will not scorn or rebufi" any of their little 
plans. A perfect rapport is established. She enters, as it 
were, into the fountains of their will, and presents to them, 
by genial suggestion, the methods on which to act ; and they 
attend to her, because, instead of attempting to drag their 
attention to some other sphere, she attends to what they are 
already attending to, and, just there, reveals the laws of ac- 
tion; so they may get some beautiful efiect, which will prob- 
ably surprise them with a sense of what they can always do, 
if they only take the right way. They are obedient sponta- 
neously to a will that they identify with their own sense of 
free action and joy. Their love of her^ therefore, partakes 
of the trust and hope which is the true response of the heart 
to God. As she loves them with God's love of them, their 
love of her partakes of the gracious characteristics of filial 
religion. This has been made evident in the success with 
which she has solved some of the greatest problems of moral 
discipline. For, as we all know, there are sometimes, even 
with little children, necessities for very grave moral discipline. 
Evils sometimes appear in young children, for which evil 
communications of others are responsible, rather than them- 
selves ; and which therefore people generally despair of meet- 
ing with moral means. But there is no daunting the courage 



KINDERGARTEN- MESSENGER. 1/ 

of Mrs. Kraus's love and faith in childhood. She makes her 
little ones feel that it is such pain (because it is such pain 
really) to her for them to be had^ that, to relieve her of pain, 
little children have made efforts from within to overcome 
superinduced corruption, which were effectual! Details of 
course cannot be given; but that there are such facts, is 
stated for the encouragement of every kindergartener ; and to 
give them additional confidence in Froebel's central idea, and 
to make his method their own in heart as well as head. 



MRS. KRAUS-BOELTS'S THAININa CLASS FOR SmDESaAETE^EBS. 

The closing of this first class took place in the kindergar- 
ten rooms, at 7 Gramercy Park, where, on the 11th of June, 
at 11 o'clock, A. M., the friends of the cause had already as- 
sembled. 

The kindergarten work of the ladies of the class had been 
arranged by them on six long tables. On the first table were 
arranged the first thirteen gifts, in forms of life, beauty, and 
geometry which indicated the course as followed in the 
Kindergarten. On the next table were large books, filled 
with schools * and inventions of drawing, fancy plaitings, 
and interlacings of paper in the different geometrical forms, 
single and in combination, producing most beautiful designs 
introducing the advanced child of the Kindergarten into the 
rudiments of geometry; also specimens of paper folding, 



* A gradual series of related forms in any one of Froebel's materials is called a 
school. These series are never copied or even seen by the children, but they help 
the teacher to dictate to them and accustom them to act steadily on a train of 
thought ; and presently their own plans take the place of the suggested thought 
and they invent. This must be seen to be believed, but. to make the experiment 
will prove to the most incredulous that the power of invention is not exceptional 
but universal in children. 



1 8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

paper cutting and mounting, of the perforating and sewing 
occupations; all executed in a similar manner, beginning 
simple and ending complicated. On the fourth table was 
the modelling in clay, the rudimental forms being developed 
from the ball, cube, and cylinder, representing birds' nests, 
a drum, a hat, an arm-chair ; a table with a tea-set, etc., and 
baskets filled with beautiful imitations of vegetables, fruit, 
and flowers, none of these forms being too difiicult to be 
made by a child. The fifth table exhibited the pea-worJc, 
partly executed with wires, partly with wooden sticks, rep- 
resenting the outlines of geometrical forms in plane and 
body, the former so arranged as to give " forms of beauty " 
of various kinds ; the latter, forms of life, as, garden uten- 
sils, furniture, a house, a church, a bird's cage, etc., etc. This 
pea-work was a pretty exhibition in itself. The sixth table 
was ornamented with free cuttings of tissue paper, representing 
lampshades ; and with fancy baskets in perforating, sewing, 
plaiting, and paper-folding. On the walls was arranged the 
stick-plaiting in simple and complicated forms, and Froebel's 
motto was plaited in paper by one of the ladies of the class : 
"(7ome, let us for our children live^ 

The whole proceedings went off without ostentation, in 
the simplest manner, and at the end the ladies of the class 
presented Mrs. Kraus with a large photograph of their por- 
traits in a group. 

The exercises were opened with an informal address by 
Mrs. Kraus. After giving the aim, and a brief outline of the 
kindergarten system, she turned to the young ladies and said : 
"It seems but a short time since the second of November, 
when I opened the training class of kindergarteners. I am 
glad to say that you have acquitted yourselves satisfactorily 
in this first course of study. Some of you will follow me 
and complete your training by a second course, while at the 
same time you will assist and help me in my work. I ven- 
ture to say that my studies in Hamburg with my venerable 
teacher and friend, Froebel's widow, as well as my practice 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 9 

in London with Madame Ronge, likewise a pupil of Froe- 
bel and propagator of his system, who established the first 
Kindergartens in London and Manchester, and my own sev- 
eral years' teaching in England and Germany, and here, have 
enabled me to give you in this first course just the teaching 
that is needed for you to begin to practise, and you are 
aware what the next year's course is to biing you. 

" With respect to the preparation of kindergarteners, the 
demand on those who aspire to teach, I must repeat what I 
have said to you on other occasions, namely, that the chief 
cause that Froebel's method has been in so many instances 
imperfectly executed, is the insufficient training of the kin- 
dergarteners. Six months' time is insufficient for a thorough 
training; it was so even with Froebel. Nothing has done 
more harm than the unfinished kindergarteners, who neither 
know how to conduct a Kindergarten, in Froebel's creative 
spirit, nor to give an account of his principles and methods. 
In these Kindergartens only mere imitation is seen. The 
small number of genuine and thoroughly-trained kindergar- 
teners in this country, has been the cause that many projected 
Kindergartens could not be realized, or were inadequately 
carried on, and in consequence died a natural death. It were 
best that every kindergartener should help practically in a 
Kindergarten one year, or, at least half a year, before con- 
ducting one herself There is already in this country a great 
and increasing interest for kindergarteners thoroughly trained 
in Froebel's system, as will be seen from the following ex- 
tract: 'So deeply are we impressed with the importance 
and utility of the Kindergarten, and with the high qualities 
required by the teacher of the very young, that we are more 
and more disposed to believe that the true order in rank and 
promotion among teachers should be (to speak in paradox) 
downwards ; that is to say, the younger the children to be 
taught, the higher the rank and remuneration of the teacher ; 
for not only is an extensive range of knowledge necessary to 
enable the teacher truthfully to answer the innumerable 



20 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

questions of inquisitive infancy, and to avoid giving false 
notions — to be afterwards with greater or less difficulty re- 
moved — always with a shock to the moral sentiment, when 
the child discovers it has been deceived ; but also a knowl- 
edge of the infant mind, a perception of the thoughts and 
fancies which chase one another through the infant brain, a 
knowledge and perceptive power which only a watchful and 
living experience can acquire. An industry and patience far 
beyond any needed by the teachers of more advanced pupils, 
are also acquired by the highly-cultivated men and women 
to whom alone the training of infant minds should be intrusted.' 
"You hear and read in this country, of Kindergartens 
every where, but if you look closer into them, you find very 
few indeed in existence worthy of the name. The shifting 
and changing of teachers and places is hurtful alike to the 
children, the teachers, and the cause. The old adage adopted 
by Poor Richard has an application here. 

' I never knew an oft removed tree, 
Nor yet an oft removed family, 
That throve so well, as those that settled be.' 

" In this connection I must state that it has always been the 
destruction of the Kindergarten, when it has been presumed 
that the youthful inspiration of the kindergartener was a suffi- 
cient qualification. The inspiration has always been checked 
by the difficulties of the first year, and the precious work 
become the mere shadow of what it ought to have been. 
Many a young kindergartener has commenced courageously, 
but undervalued experience and information; and the con- 
sequence was, that her efibrts amounted to nothing; on the 
other hand, I must also mention that the kindergarten voca- 
tion is too often chosen more from outward, worldly motives, 
than from feeling a real and true inspiration. In regard to 
the demands that should be made of a well-qualified kinder- 
gartener, I need only to repeat what I said last year at the 
Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the National Educational 
Association, at Elmira, namely; from a well-qualified kin- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 21 

dergartener is demanded a sincere love for children, and that 
she feel happy in their company ; a clear insight into child 
nature and child life up to the seventh year; exact knowl- 
edge and spiritual comprehension united with dexterous 
handling, and turning to account or realization of Froebel's 
means of occupation; some musical knowledge and ability 
so as to execute Froebel's songs, and guide the plays with 
pleasure; a cheerful humor that can easily enter into the 
child's play, and is not too easily affected by children's 
naughtiness; conscientiousness; so much knowledge of na- 
ture as to be enabled to show to the children every where 
the Creator's love, wisdom, and power; in short, a pure 
and perfectly cultivated mind and character. One point is 
often overlooked ; that, after all, the learning and studying 
of the system does not make the kindei-gartener. 

" The principles which guide us in teaching, make a sci- 
ence ; but teaching, as practised, is wholly an art. A man 
can teach names to another man, but he cannot plant in 
another's mind that far higher gift — the power of naming. 
The whole of any science may be made the subject of teach- 
ing. Not so with art : much of it is not teachable. Sir 
Joshua Reynolds was taken by a friend to see a picture. He 
was anxious to admire it and he looked it over with a keen, 
careful, and favorable eye. 'Capital composition,' said he, 
' correct drawing, the color and tone are excellent, but — but, 
— it wants — hang it, it wants that ' — snapping his fingers — 
and — wanting that, though it had every thing else, it was 
worth very little. 

" One word more and I am done. What renders children 
so happy in the Kindergarten is, that they learn to play, — 
the only thing they care for, after having satisfied their ani- 
mal wants. On a tombstone, in a distant cemetery, is this 
inscription : ' She always made home happy.' How different 
the next generation would be from this, if on every teacher's 
tombstone could be placed truthfully the words, ' She always 
made school happy.' 



22 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

" Finally, to keep your skill, you must make your own the 
motto of the great Greek painter Apelles, ' Nulla dies sine 
linea^ which may be freely translated, 'I let no day pass 
without some practise in my art.' " 

The next thing in order was the reading of the composi- 
tions of the ladies of the Training Class. From want of 
time only three of the ladies (Miss Isabel Morehouse, Mrs. 
Maguire, and Miss Thompson) could read their essays on the 
Kindergarten system, but these were listened to with much 
interest. 

Mi-s. Kraus then went to the opposite side of the room, 
and taking Miss Peabody by the hand, introduced her to the 
audience ; thanked her for coming from Cambridge purposely 
for this occasion, and asked her to give her blessing to the 
class. Miss Peabody responded smilingly that her blessing 
she need not give to what was obviously so great a blessing. 
She did, however, make a few sympathetic remarks, and it 
was felt that her presence itself had given the blessing. 

Mrs. Kraus then considered the ceremony as closed, saying 
that there was nothing left but to say good-by^ and to wish 
her pupils success and Godspeed. Yet nobody stirred from 
his or her place, as if something else "syere expected. Mr. 
Kraus then said that this occasion reminded him of an inci- 
dent in Washington, where he went one Sunday afternoon 
into a church in order to hear the venerable Lucretia Mott. 
The church was crowded to the utmost. After Mrs. Mott 
had delivered her sermon in her usual amiable manner, she 
sat down. As for more than five minutes nobody made a 
sign to leave the house, Mrs. Mott rose and said, that the 
Friends were not accustomed to sing a doxology, say a 
benediction, or play a voluntary on the organ; that they 
only said their say and were done. In a similar position on 
this occasion was Mrs. Kraus ; she had said her say and was 
done. Everybody laughed, rose, and a general inspection of 
the Kindergarten work followed. 

J. K. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 23 

ITALO-AMEHICAN SCHOOLS. 

Mrs. Emily Bliss Gould writes from Rome, May, 1874: "I 
am more and more convinced of the worth of the Kindergar- 
ten. We put our poor little forced children into it (for you 
must know we have a very few children from the higher 
class of society) ; we put our naughty ones into it, and our 
stupid ones, and our utterly untaught ones (even when they 
are beyond the usual age), and the remedy proves a good 
one in all these cases. Here the little busy hands cease to 
be mischievous, and smiles chase away the thought of tears. 
And pur little stupid and untaught babies, big and little, 
wake up and learn. If old enough, after only three months 
of Kindergarten, they learn to read and write, almost with- 
out instruction ! 

" A little fellow in ' the Home,' some nine years old, who 
neither read nor wrote a word five months ago, sat down the 
other day and wrote a pretty little letter to his brother, with- 
out a blot or a word misspelt. We did not know what he 
was doing until it was finished, forgotten, and lost, and we 
picked it up from the floor. Of course he had been in the 
Kindergarten, and there his powers had become so developed, 
and his empty little head so filled, that he taught himself 
more than he was taught. 

" My Home and my Kindergarten are my great hopes. In 
the former I take no child for less than six years, that they 
may be really educated and do something towards diminish- 
ing the expenses of the establishment before they leave it. 
The Home contains now ten boys and eight girls — such 
happy bits of humanity, and many of them rescued from 
such misery! 

" The printing press is going, and the same little boy of 
whom I spoke — not at all an uncommon child — takes hold 
of printing better than several boys of twelve who never 
went to the Kindergarten. If I could only put them all 
back into it for a few years ! Two girls of fourteen are the 



24 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

little mammas. Several of them are sure to become teachers. 
Some of the boys are glorious little fellows. 

"The children pronounce English wonderfully well. I 
teach them by plays that define the meanings of the words. 
I have got out about a hundred pages of my English Manual 
of the plays. I wrote for them a little dialogue on cruelty 
to animals, which they recited on occasion of the third anni- 
versary of our beginning the school — and so beautifully! 
Several Italians were present; and directly after I received 
a notice that I had been elected, by acclamation, member of 
the Board of Dii-ectors of the Society for the Protection of 
Animals. My children are all to be made members." 

By her " children " Mrs. Gould means these — more than 
a hundred little Italians — whom she is raising from fauns 
into human life ; devoting to the work all her fortune and 
life, and all she can get from native Italians and strangers 
sojourning in Rome. The hope of Italy lies in these efforts 
to educate the children harmoniously — head, heart, and 
hands in normal relation. Nor is it the hope of Italy alone, 
but of the world. The Christ child is in every one of these 
little ones! Shall he not "grow in wisdom and stature" 
from all, not to die for, but to live for the world ? It was 
enough that one should die, that all others might live. But 
alas, how people merely drift instead of living ! 



(Translated from Sanscrit by Rueckart.) 

Devoutly look, and naught 

But wonders shall pass by thee ; 
Devoutly read, and then 

All books shall edify thee ; 
Devoutly speak, and men 

Devoutly listen to thee ; 
Devoutly act, and then 

The strength of God acts through thee. 



H. N. McKINNEY & CO., 

PHILADELPHIA, PA. 

publishes 

Lecture on Itie Education of tlie Kindepftener, 

By Miss E. P. PEABODY. 
Sold by A. Williams, corner of Washington and School Streets, Boston. 
E. Steiger, 22 and 24 Frankfbi-t Street, New York. 

G. P. Putnam's Sons, 23d Street and 4th Avenue, New York. 

LEOPOLn NOAj 

Late Professor of Modern Languages at the Washington University 
of St. Louis, Mo., is open to engagements for teaching them, and for 
fitting pupils for universities in the Classical Languages also. 

Spontaneous testimonials of his abilities as teacher from distin- 
guished persons in Loudon — Robert Browning, the poet; Sir Henry- 
Thompson, the great surgeon; Mr. Charles Macauley; and other 
gentlemen, whose children were his pupils — are in the hands 
of Miss Peabody, 19 PoUen Street, Cambridge ; copies of which are 
at Williams's Bookstore, corner of School and Washington Streets, 
Boston. 

Mr. Noa also teaches Classical Music — instrumental and vocal; 
Mathematics and Astronomy; and lectured in Loudon on Human 
Physiology. He may be seen personally at Williams's Bookstore, in 
the morning, aud addressed at his own house, Parker Street, Boston 
Highlands. 



ESSAY ON LANGUAGE. 2d edition. With other papers, one being on the 

Philosophical Genius of Rev. W. E. Channing, D. D. Published in Boston, 

1857, by Phillips, Sampson, & Co. 
FREEDOM OF MIND IN WILLING; or. Every Being who Wills a Creative 

First Cause. New York: Appleton & Co. 1864. 
TWO LETTERS ON CAUSATION, addressed to John Stuart Mill. With an 

Appendix on the Existence of Matter and our Notions of Infinite Space. 

Boston: Lee & Shepard. 1869. 
In 1868 Scribner published two works on practical subjects : " Our Resources," and 

"Finance and the Hours of Labor." 

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VOL.11. SEPTEMBEE, 1874. No. 9. 



A PERIODICAL OF 24 PAGES. 



IJmfcjgHiiteit Jjl^ss^npr, 



EDITED BY 



ELIZABETH P. PEABODY. 



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,5@ ■ 



MRS. KRAUS-BOELTE 

Will make lier own arrangements for pupils in the Kindergarten, 
Training Class, &c., at 26 East 50th Street, New York, (D'Aert's 
Institute). 

MRS. THOMAS J. MAGUIRE 

.Will open a Kindergarten in St. Louis College, Nos. 228, 230 & 232 
West 42d Street, New York, on September 23. 

MISS GARLMD k MISS WESTOH 

Will open their Kindergarten and Advanced Glass, on Thursday, 
October 1, 1874, at 98 Chestnut Street, Boston, where applications 
can be made after September 28, daily, between 1 and 8 o'clock. 

The Normal Class will be opened November 1. A thorough 
English education, good general culture, and ability to sing, are 
requisite for admission. 

Summer address. Miss Mary Garland, Bristol. 



Tlie Cliaiiiicj Hall KiiKlergaitii ami Pr 



Will open for both sexes, in September, in the new school-house on Boylston 
Street, near Dartmouth. The Kindergarten will be limited to fourteen pupils. In 
the Preparatory, part of every session will be devoted to French conversation. 
Both rooms will have the sun all day, and will be warmed in part by open fires. 

For applications, catalogues, etc., see advertisements of the Upper Department 
in the daily papers. CUSHINGS & LADD. 

KINDEEQARTEN TRAINING CLASS, 

31 Horth Fifth Street, Columbus, Ohio. 



Located at Worthington, Ohio (nine miles north of Columbus). 
CONDITIONS. — Applicants must possess genuine sympathy with childhood, a 

thorough English education, and some musical ability. 
TIME. — The Class will be opened in September. The course will extend through 

six months, comprising two lessons per week in Theory, with observation 

and practice in the Kindergarten. No applications received alte.i Oct. 1st. 
TEKMS.— Tuition for the whole course, $50. 
Boarding. — In Columbus, can be obtained at $6.50 per week. In Worthington, 

at $3 per week. 

Address, Mrs, JOHN OGDEN, 31 N, Fifth St., Columbus, Ohio, 



^ind^tgatten ^mm^n. 



Vol. II. — SEPTEMBEE, 1874.— No. 9. 



EDUCATION B7 LABOR. 

By Madame Mareuholtz-Bulow. Translated by M. M. * 

CHAPTEE T. 

Higher cultivation and increased capacity in the laborer, is the begin- 
ning of the solution of the social question. — schulze-delitzsch. 

Tktje freedom for the people is only possible through true 
culture of the people. The watchword of our time, " The 
advocacy of the rights of the people," involves, also, the 
watchword, "Education of the people," in order that the 
power to fulfil duties may con*espond to rights. 

The social reform of our time requires a new foundation 
in no province of life more pressingly than in the education 
of the working classes ; for no where has the revolution in 
circumstances had a deeper influence ; no where are so many 
new demands made, or such increased claims put forward, as 
on that class of society whose emancipation constitutes the 
most important question of the present. 

The new standpoint which work — and with it the work- 
man — takes in human society, and will take more and more, 
impose absolutely new conditions upon the education of the 
people. It requires not merely better, higher school-culture 
for the improvement of the understanding in the usual sense : 
it is important, above all things, that the inventive power, 
real productivity, be awakened in every one as much as pos- 

* Copyright secured according to law. 



2 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

sible ; for work must be elevated to science, in order 
to make the day laborer the intelligent master of the machine 
(which is the only slave of to-day). A higher degree of per- 
fection, in almost every kind of work, demands an independent 
onset ; mastery of the material ; a freedom of movement in 
technical practice, which borders upon artistic power ; and 
these always involve a certain degree of individual creative- 
ness, or intellectual productivity. 

This demand for intellectual culture for the sake ofworJc^ 
coincides, in part, with the demand for general intellectual 
culture ; but is not exactly the same. The most accomplished 
chemist may, for example, be unable to apply his science to 
this or that trade. The special knowledge of the workman 
must always stand in reference to practice. Nevertheless, 
his knowledge will be no less a means for his general human 
culture, than are his special sciences to the learned man, al- 
though they do not, of themselves, contain general culture. 
The working classes need the elements of the sciences, and 
the knowledge of their results in application. Now, more 
than ever, the education of the people — or the public school 
— has to adopt and to nurture the element of work, of work 
as a theory^ for more than ever is it to be education for work, 
since it is education in general that forms morally good and 
rational men. Education in general is yet so imperfect 
because the being of the child has been so little understood. 

Education for work, in a special sense, which ought to 
make a part of every general purpose, does not yet properly 
exist, at least not such as our age demands. For it cannot 
surely be called a real education for work, when the children 
who have left school go to learn this or that calling. If a 
boy goes into the workshop as an apprentice, the craft to be 
learned is shown to him mostly as mere mechanical manipu- 
lation, which he imitates without being able to give an account 
of the why or the wherefore. Besides, the majority of the 
apprentices are treated much more as underlings, or in some 
cases as servants, than as pupils who are to learn for their 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 3 

own improvement. It must be acknowledged that the ma- 
jority of the children, particularly the children of the poor, 
enter the workshop so unprepared that the master workman 
would be obliged to devote the greater part of his time to 
them, if he would be a teacher in the full sense of the word ; 
and the scholars of the highest standing in general culture 
enter the workshops not much better prepared for work than 
the children of the public schools. To these, indeed, has 
been given a scientific ground-work for their calling; they 
occupy themselves with the theory, but the concurrent prac- 
tice is wanting, which the apprentice in the workshop carries 
on mechanically, and generally without any theory, that is, 
unconsciously t like a brute animal. 

Girls also receive in the industrial schools, through their 
various callings, such as sewing, tailoring, embroidery, dress- 
making, millinery, &c., scarcely any instruction, or, at least, 
no fundamental, theoretic instruction, and always work rather 
imitatively than creatively. They also are wanting, more or 
less, in the right preparation for truly understanding the the- 
ory of their work, even if they were instructed in it.* 

To meet the higher demands which the present time makes 
upon handiwork, and to make it at the same time an intel- 
lectual activity, there is only one means : the workman must 
understand the theory of his work ; he must be able to give 
an account of the reason and aim of his doing. But for this 
there must be other than what is called the usual school cul- 
ture, even if this latter, which is not always the case, did 
secure the necessary general cultivation of the senses and 
the powers of the U7ider standing. It would, indeed, not be 
sufficient for a thorough education for work, if the public 
schools were more perfectly organized as literary schools 
fbr the apprentices, necessary as this is for general culture, 
itself. 



* Miss E. Schallenfeld, of Berlin, has made a worthy beginning, by introducing 
a theory of woman's handiwork into the schools. 



4 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

The present demand is that labor shall be spiritualized. 
That can mean nothing else than to transform it into crea- 
tiveness — to raise it to a species of fine art. The artist finds 
himself again in his work ; not only his idea, his conception, 
but also his spiritual individuality mirrors itself therein, if it 
be a true work of art, a really individual, original creation. 
It is because the artist utters himself in his work, represents 
his own essence in the most objective form, that it ensures 
him true satisfaction. It is the destiny of man to express his 
own essence, also to impart to the objective representation 
his own peculiar nature. Only in individual cases does man 
represent the Universal. Raphael and Michael Angelo were 
surely objective in their works, but every connoisseur distin- 
guishes the individual impress in each of them precisely. 

Any handicraft can ensure similar satisfaction, and similar 
elevation as art, only when the workman can give to his 
work an individual impress; when he can impart to it 
something of the spirit of his own invention. But how 
much preparation does not the artist need for his calling! 
Must he not know thoroughly the material which he works 
upon ? There can be no painter without the knowledge of 
colors ; no sculptor, no architect, without the knowledge of 
marble, and of the difierent kinds of stone — of the material 
in general : so no artisan can arrive at mastership without 
knowledge of his material. Almost all labor demands mas- 
tery of the material ; and that requires knowledge of it 
through experience. 

The highest degree of perfection in the trades, equally 
with the representative arts, requires, also, a considerable 
degree of aptitude in technicalities. But every species of 
technicality needs the development of particular muscles and 
nerves, namely, those of the hand. A kind of hand-gymnas- 
tics is needed. 

Without a sense of form, culture of the eye for symmetry 
and harmony ; without a knowledge of the relations of mag- 
nitude and numbers, consequently without drawing and 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 5 

mathematics, at least in their elements, how can the humblest 
artisan attain to that mastership which approaches artistic 
power? 

Individual creativeness involves freedom of motion, and 
this is the result of complete command of the material, and 
thoroughly conquered technicalities ; no less than of full con- 
sciousness of the aim and means of the work. It is the 
consequence of intellectual comprehension. At present, only 
those attain to real mastership in their calling who are 
pre-eminently gifted, and who were so fortunate as not to 
have been neglected in their education, particularly in their 
earliest^ ducation. And even these have attained mastership, 
chiefly at the cost of their general culture, because there is 
not sufficient time nor strength left from the toil of the occu- 
pation to give attention to it. 

Hence the great mass of the working class still remains day 
laborers, beasts of burden, machines, without consciousness 
of human dignity, and the refinements of iiumanity. "What 
is to become of these, how are they to earn their bread, when 
machinery shall perform all their rude and mechanical em- 
ployments? The common saying, "Early practice makes 
every thing easy," has not yet been sufficiently estimated. 
Only when in childhood, and even from the earliest child- 
hood, the capacity for the various branches of labor has been 
sufficiently cultivated by the practice of work; only when 
education for .work shall begin with education in general — 
only then — will " an increased capacity in the laborer, to- 
gether with his higher cultivation," be possible; and each 
one will be able to approach mastership in his calling, with- 
out neglecting his general culture, or being obliged to deprive 
himself of the legitimate enjoyments of life. 

In the present circumstances of the working class, the 
question is, to be sure, not of preparation of this sort, but 
rather an utter neglect of the powers, both of body and mind, 
is the order of the day. If unhealthy dwelling and bad food 
do not hinder the healthy development of the body, yet reg- 



6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

ular exercises of the limbs in young children are wanting, 
exercises which are necessary to develop the full woi-king 
power in a man. In the country, in small towns, natural 
gymnastics, at least, are practised in the woods and fields, 
which preserve bodily strength and health. But this is only 
crude power, which falls in value for work, in proportion as 
machinery supplies its place, yet the majority of the children in 
large cities almost perish bodily. If they are to be protected 
from the dangers of the streets, nothing is left for them but 
to sit still in musty apartments or cellars, without air or 
cleanliness, while the poor parents are out at their work ; or 
they are put into temporary asylums, that, for the most part, 
are not more airy. It is asserted that in great cities, in Paris, 
for example, four generations, at most, can be in some 
degree, healthy and robust; the succeeding generations 
become more and more feeble and stunted, and the reason 
for this is to be found, for the most part, in the fact that the 
greater part of the men of genius, who come from the ranks 
of the people, were born in the villages or small cities. It 
is a common saying in Paris : " Genius is born in the vil- 
lage, but hatched in Paris." One of the reasons of this 
phenomenon may possibly be that the want of free nature 
and contemplation, and of impressions from nature, is an 
impediment to the development of intellectual capacities in 
large cities. Genius, also, needs quiet and self-contempla- 
tion, which the bustle of cities does not favpr. If man* is 
to obtain the full use of his bodily powers, and that physical 
development which is a complete capability for work, educa- 
tional precautions must be taken, as they are not now, or 
only very disjointedly and insufficiently. Gymnastics will, 
it is to be hoped, soon be the common possession of the 
whole people, and then an extraordinary impetus will be 
given to the working force. But there are precautions to be 
taken. Before the time of gymnastics proper, there must 
not be wanting gymnastic exercises for the earliest childhood, 
which especially needs them. Nature, like a careful mother, 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. / 

has provided that the child shall not be able to keep still, for 
motion of all kinds is his greatest need. And education must 
always take its direction from nature, whose hints are al- 
ways right, but have not yet been sufficiently understood and 
considered. 

If we wish to find out what nature teaches concerning the 
law of human development, we must pay attention to the 
manifestations of the childhood of the race; must observe in 
what manner its spontaneous development has gone on. The 
nature of the individual is like that of his species, and the 
measure for the being and nature of each one is expressed in 
the being and nature of the race, as recorded in history. 

As nature implanted in the child the instinct to move his 
limbs in order to secure their growing strong, she also gave 
him the impulse to gather his first experiences of matter 
itself, by continual touching and investigation of surrounding 
objects, in order to distinguish hard and soft, brittle and flex- 
ible, &c. But here, too, educational assistance is needful, 
that the impulse may reach the end for which nature gave it, 
namely, knowledge of the material. 

Without doubt, nature has bestowed upon the child some 
talent for all branches of human culture. These talents ex- 
press themselves in the child as impulses, which urge it to 
this or that activity. Thus the child has a continual desire 
to use its hands for all sorts of manipulations, which are to 
be the preparation for technical skill. Left without guidance, 
this impulse leads to spoiling and destroying, instead of 
becoming serviceable to creativeness ; leaves the love of 
destroying to grow, which gratifies the sense of power in the 
uncultivated. 

A systematic exercise of the senses, according to Pesta- 
lozzi, now forms the basis of every regular school, or, at least, 
is expected to do so. But the senses wake up long before 
the school period, and because they have no proper exercise, 
because every thing has been left to chance, they run riot ; 
and subsequent discipline of the senses in school cannot en- 



8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER, 

tirely make up for this previous neglect, even if the child 
shall attain it. But in most public schools, little, upon the 
whole, yet exists, to afford sufficient discipline and culture of 
the senses, though it shall be found, later, so indispensable to 
the workman. 

The school, as it is now, however boastingly it may have 
^ f)rofessed to give the requisite education for work, does not 
do it; and however great an advance it has made in modern 
times, gives only a very general and entirely insufficient pre- 
paration for any calling. 

Before the school period all the preliminary exercises of 
the powers have been left to chance, and afterwards those 
preliminary conditions of a true education for work, which 
should have bound theory and practice together, are found 
wanting. 

As we must begin in every thing at the beginning, in order 
to work successfully ; so also the preparation for work must 
be begun in earliest childhood. Only so, will adequate time 
and power be gained ; and only so, be conformable to nature. 
That the child must first learn in order to be able to perform 
any work, is a fundamental principle, but understood and 
applied in a one-sided manner. Why should not a child, ac- 
cording to its powers, work while it learns, work in order to 
learn ? Certainly childhood is the time of the development 
and unfolding of all the powers, physical and mental; the 
spring-time of the human bud, which can yet bear no fruit. 
To Avork for the results of work, childhood can not and must 
not do, for a child's work should be only a means of develop- 
ment. Who does not revolt at the misuse of the working 
power of children, which is met with in workshops, manufac- 
tories, mines, &c. — misuse which is no less often seen in the 
homes of the children of the poor, where the child of seven 
or eight years of age is obliged to carry and tend the child 
of one year, all day long; or to draw water and carry 
wood ; or to undertake other tasks far beyond the strength 
of the youthful powers, and which, therefore, must needs 
check their development ? 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 9 

There is but one right kind of work for childhood, that 
which merely promotes the development and culture of their 
powers and talents; and in the earliest years, their is only 
one right form for this work — plat ! Did not the human 
race begin the career of its development with working? In 
no case did it do so with learning^ in the sense of the school ! 
Before men had schools and books, they were obliged to pro- 
vide for their nearest wants — shelter, food, clothing. The 
first knowledge sprang from experiences which were gathered 
by this work; viz., by their journeys of discovery in their 
vicinity, observations of natural products, investigations into 
the qualities of things, and occasional discoveries and inven- 
tions. As children read in "Robinson Crusoe," this work 
was the beginning of cultivation in our race; this was its 
first education, the preliminary school out of which science 
and art have sprung. Our present education has surely wan- 
dered far from its natural path, in which the Divine Educator 
led the human race in its childhood, else would it also begin 
now with working, not learning ; not, indeed, working in the 
sense of constraint, but as a free, natural play of the faculties ! 

All development is a species of work — that is, motion, 
power of impulse, activity, exertion, all have for result the 
unfettering of what was bound up, — and is the progress 
towards the attainment of destiny. So every thing in the 
organic world works, from the real power of growth in the 
plant, to that of the higher animal species which work for 
man. This endeavor for development, inherent in every or- 
ganism, brings about the great work of the development of 
the universe ; and is the eternal condition of its growth, and 
therefore, also, the condition of human growth. 

But outward conditions must harmonize with inwai-d striv- 
ing, if the end, the unfolding of the organism, is to be reached. 
The power of growth in the plant needs suitable warmth, 
light, water, &c. Animals need proper nourishment, motion, 
and especially the satisfaction of their natural wants, in order 
that their vital power and instinct can fulfil their aim. Many 



10 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

animals, when they build abodes or defend their lives, are 
obliged to make exertions for this by bloody strife with other 
animals, or by outwitting their enemies. 

The principle of self-activity, long recognized by pedagog- 
ics, is the educational principle in the whole of creation. The 
only difference is, that activity in the kingdoms of uncon- 
scious nature always reaches its end surely, without useless 
trying and experimenting. 

The swallow builds its nest without preliminary teaching ; 
the bee builds its cell with mathematical precision ; the spi- 
der weaves its nest with more regularity than the weaver is 
able to weave his cloth. But the human child is wanting in 
the sure instinct which never misses its end ; it must learn 
everything with painstaking, it must reach its gaol, that is, 
provide for this need of culture, through tryings and experi- 
ences, by slow steps of progress. 

Man has been an apprentice from the beginning of his ex- 
istence ; the surrounding world, his workshop. This appren- 
ticeship of mankind, which preceded its present partial mas- 
tership, repeats itself, in a certain sense, for each child anew. 
But it begins with his life, not first with the school, nor with 
formal instruction. It is the pedagogues of our time, es- 
pecially Pestalozzi, who have first busied themselves with the 
education that takes place before the school period. Hither- 
to, the development of the child was, for the most part, a 
terra incognita. 

As little as we can tell how the bud of a plant unfolds it- 
self, can we know what passes in the mysterious workshop of 
the child's soul, or how the first impressions of the outer 
world waken the slumbering life, and images and represen- 
tations lay the foundation of thinking. But we know that 
all development in nature proceeds according to law; that 
the tree cannot bear fruit first, and then buds ; that spring 
must always, without exception, precede summer, &c. That 
a like uniformity must also be the rule of all intellectual de- 
velopment is self-evident, but in what the uniformity consists, 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. II 

what its method is, we know but little yet. The analysis of 
the child's soul, begun by Pestalozzi, was continued by Froe- 
bel, and an important step forward in this knowledge was 
taken by the latter. This is not the place to go deeper into 
Froebel's psychological views of the human being in the 
stage of childhood, and it must be reserved for another time. 

But Pestalozzi and Froebel, those two genial thinkers and 
teachers, agree in this : that there is but one guide in educa- 
tion ; that is the child's own nature. Pestalozzi, like Froebel, 
started his educational method from the first manifestations 
of the child's being, from its natural impulses. Both distin- 
guish the manifestations of the soul from the bodily impulses, 
and both recognize their reciprocal action {einander wirken) 
and the analogy between them. Both desire, not like Fou- 
rier, a complete gratification of the childish instincts and 
natural inclinations, but such a use of them as to give a true 
discipline to the impulses and senses (sinne) ; to regulate, 
as it were, the lower propensities and feelings by an early , 
development of the higher. 

The tendencies of the soul are here purposely called im- 
pulses (triebe) for culture, because the word impulse (trieb) 
best expresses the condition of non-development; the un- 
conscious, blind pressure of these tendencies in the beginning 
of the child's life. 

Pestalozzi and Froebel desired no teaching of the earliest 
childhood without impressions of the senses, without obser- 
vation and demonstration; no mere word-teaching. But 
Froebel thinks this not sufficient, and wishes to extend the 
principle of self-activity, established by Pestalozzi as a fun- 
damental rule, so that the child may teach itself through 
actual production. Froebel not only wishes for exercise of 
the limbs and senses, as exercise, which Pestalozzi lets follow 
the mechanical handiwork, but for a result, never merely 
mechanical, but bringing into concurrent exercise the powers 
of the soul as well as body. The thought has been expressed 
that a method might be found to enable the gymnastic exer- 



12 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

cises of adults to be used for various branches of work, in 
order to make the time spent in the exercise of the muscles 
useful. The method invented by Froebel, of letting the chil- 
dren practise, by playing, a complete system of gymnastics, not 
only of the limbs and senses, but also of all the mental or- 
gans, has so far solved that problem, that the great majority 
ot children's exercises have a result. The playing occupa- 
tions are productive. However small may be the products 
of a child's work, they are useful to his development, not 
merely by the experience gained of the material, — size, form, 
symmetry, &c. ; they also afford to him the satisfaction re- 
sulting from every creative activity that is useful. They be- 
come to him in miniature, what his artistic work is to the 
artist, a mirror of his being, a measure of his talents and his 
power (Jconnen), be it well understood, not as reflection, but 
as immediate impression, like everything which works upon 
the soul in the period of childish unconsciousness. In the 
first period of life, things leave upon the child only total im- 
pressions, whose details are impressed upon them only by 
degrees. In this sense, Froebel's discovery and its further 
improvement is of incalculable use for childish development 
in general, but above all, for the true preparation for their 
later calling, of the children of the working classes, which is 
demanded at the present time. It is the beginning of rais- 
ing work to the rank of science. 

Although Froebel connects his mode of procedure imme- 
diately with the natural tendencies of the child, the present 
limited knowledge of the profounder reason of his method 
has called forth the frequent accusation that it is not conform- 
able to nature, that it takes freedom away from childish play, 
and brings artificialness into the innocent period of child- 
hood. 

No one doubts that it is quite conformable to nature to 
select for the child the food necessary to nourish its body • 
but it is doubted that the young being can have already 
spiritual needs; that his budding soul also needs food! 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER, 1 3 

Satisfaction of his bodily wants and amusements by child's 
play is thought to be very well. The majority hold more 
than this not to be necessary, and think that at six years of 
age will come the school to develop the mind. 

In nature, everything has its regular transition (xiberganz). 
The fi-uit does not grow out of the leaves ; a budding and 
blooming time lies between. Will it be called conformable 
to nature, if, after these first years of the child, which have 
been played through without any sort of rule, indeed, as is 
often the case, have been dreamed away, — if, after such en- 
tirely arbitrary action of the child, then suddenly, without 
any transition, the unpractised powers of the understanding 
are called upon in earnest to learn ? that is to say, called to 
an occupation for which the child's soul, throughout its past 
life time, has found no connecting link, and for which it has 
had no preparation ? Because it has long been felt that 
such a method is not confoi*mable to nature, instructive plays 
have been invented, play schools have been set up, in order 
to furnish assistance to the earliest development. Something 
though very little, has been as yet affected thus, and had not 
the teachings of. life itself, both at home and outside of it, 
co-operated, still less would have been affected. But the 
children of the poor have been without even this preparation. 
Later on in the time of youth, it is found quite conformable 
to nature, if one who is gifted with poetical talent, writes 
poetry, if one gifted with the talent for painting, paints, &c., 
but no one will desire that these talents should be left to culti- 
vate themselves, without instruction. Now the child brought 
these powers into the world with him, and their germs have 
grown up within him by degrees, until the real talent could 
make itself known. The history of the development of 
great artists frequently shows how favorable influences from 
without came to the help of the tendency, so as to develop a 
great talent. If the child Mozart had grown up entirely 
without musical environments, surely his genius would have 
been more or less stunted. Why would it not then be con- 



14 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

formable to nature, if a thinking mind which was investi- 
gating these germinal tendencies of the child's soul in their 
manifestations, should shape the plays of the child into exer- 
cises for all these talents ? What can the plays of a child 
exercise except his own powers? They are his most nat- 
ural manifestations. Nature, which gave him the impulse to 
play, but which does nothing in vain, follows out a purpose 
always in everything, and even in the smallest things. 

Childish play has the lofty aim of the cultivation 
OF BODY AND MIND ; that is its " deep meaning," and because 
the impulse of the human being does not, like the animal in- 
stinct, reach its end without help and support, the need of 
this support is quite conformable with human nature / cer- 
tainly there is need of regulated exercises adapted to the 
end, — methodical exercises, — if a true support is to be 
gained, and the goal of these impulses of the soul is to be 
reached. Nature itself always develops and shapes according 
to law and rule ; therefore must not the soul be supported 
in a similar manner methodically ? 

It is the prevalent opinion that method limits the freedom 
of motion, and that every orderly play rests upon rules, and 
not only the plays which chiefly make a claim upon the 
mental activity, such as chess, card-playing, &c., are founded 
on rules, but also ball-playing, and the least of the ordinary 
child's plays, dancing. In gymnastic plays it surely does not 
take away the freedom of motion, because dancing and gym- 
nastics must be learned methodically ; but the more accord- 
ing to rule these are learned, the more freedom of motion is 
possible in them. And the freer the motion, the greater the 
enjoyment. In like manner must every handiwork, every 
art, and every science be taught methodically, if they are to 
be successful. 

If the child wishes to build a house, and I give him the 
suitable materials and show him the knack of reaching his 
desired end, I surely do not limit his freedom ; I only fulfil 
his own wish, and further his self-activity. But if a play is 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 15 

to be given by word of command, like the military drill, or if 
the child is to receive a continuous support in his playing 
occupations, one might with reason consider this pernicious. 

According to E'roebel's principle, on the contrary, the inde- 
pendent ejQTorts of the child, his own experimentings, are to 
be stimulated as much as possible. The instruction given to 
make the play easier to the child will make it the more in- 
dependent, give more opportunity for his own creativeness, 
his own invention. As the instructions of the master to the 
apprentice in the workshop first makes it possible for him to 
do his work with ease and freedom, so the teacher must give 
the necessary freedom to the play of the child by his assist- 
ance, hut only as a playfellow, not as a teacher. If that is 
done as in Froebel's Kindergarten, daily, for a short time 
during the play-lesson, in play, so to speak, the greater part 
of the day remains for those quite independent and even 
arbitrary attempts at play, which are not, by any means, to 
be taken from the child. 

The impulse for action and work makes the child hammer 
and knead, scrawl and cut whatever falls into his hands. It 
is the office of education to come to the assistance of this 
natural striving which is the child's own work of develop- 
ment. That could not be done, heretofore, with sufficient 
success, because the right method was wanting, which would 
determine what should be the right material, as well as the 
suitable corresponding instruction for its use, and the natural 
succession of the playing occupations. [To be continued.] 



E7ES THAT SEE AND EAES THAT HEAR. 

[Paper read at her graduation from Miss Garland's Normal Class, May, 1873, by 
Miss Symonds, who now keeps the public Kindergarten at the corner of Allston 
and Somerset Streets.] 

The Bible furnishes us many instances where Christ re- 
proves his disciples for blindness and deafness; for seeing 
without perceiving, and hearing without understanding. 
He also tells them, " The light of the body is the eye ; " and 



1 6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

says many times, " He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." 
It is this physical and moral blindness and deafness which 
Froebel intended to eradicate by inventing his kindergarten 
system. Realizing that the impressions received in childhood 
"were povs^erful agents in forming the minds and characters of 
persons, he spent a life-time in studying the natures of chil- 
dren, to ascertain the best means of training their varied 
faculties. 

His system is based upon the natural manifestations of the 
child, and its requirements for development; and all the 
plays and occupations of the Kindergarten have been arranged 
with special reference to this. The principal aim of Froebel's 
First Gift to the child, is to train his eye to distinguish one 
color from another, therefore he gives him six worsted balls, 
three of primary and three of secondary colors ; in some of 
the later Gifts, as in sewing and weaving, the child is taught 
to combine different colors, and the beauties of harmony and 
contrast are brought out in such a pleasing way by these 
occupations, as never to be forgotten. 

If the eyes were trained in extreme youth, as the kinder- 
garten system designs they should be, I doubt if we should 
meet with persons afflicted with color-blindness ; we certainly 
should not find an artist of high rank disfiguring his portrait 
of a beautiful young lady, by painting her lips a brilliant 
shade of green, and not knowing his mistake until he was 
told it by his assistant ! Many people appear to agree fully 
with Mrs. Pipchin, whose system was, " not to encourage a 
child's mind to develop and expand itself like a young flower, 
but to open it like an oyster." If we remember that the minds 
of little children develop slowly, but senses are very soon 
as strongly developed as those of an adult, and notice the 
delight which they show when learning something new about 
familiar objects, it seems reasonable that the early education 
should appeal to the active faculties rather than to the intel- 
lect. A child who is taught to admire the beauty of the 
flowers, the carol of the birds, " the grandeur of the starry 




KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1/ 

heavens," and the wonders of the deep, will be led " through 
nature up to nature's God " by the refining influences of these 
emotions ; his eye will not become dim, nor his ear dull of 
hearing; but he will "find tongues in trees, books in the 
running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in every' thing^ 

It is not intended that the Kindergarten shall supersede 
the primary school, but underlie it, and form a sure and strong 
foundation for the primary and succeeding grades to build 
upon. When the Kindergarten is introduced into our pub- 
lic school system, not as an experiment, but as a permanent 
thing, all of the grades will be vastly improved. We shall 
then have no advocates for such an establishment as Dr. 
Blimber's, which Dickens tells us, " was a great hot-house in 
which there was a forcing apparatus incessantly at work. 
All the boys blew before their time. Mental green peas were 
produced at Christmas, and intellectual asparagus all the 
year round. Mathematical gooseberries (very sour ones, too,) 
were common at untimely seasons ; and from mere sprouts 
of bushes, under Dr. Blimber's cultivation, every description 
of greek and latin vegetable was got off the driest twigs of 
boys, under the frostiest circumstances. Nature was of no 
consequence at all." 

Those who, a few years ago, were strong advocates for the 
high-pressure system in our schools, have, without doubt, 
seen its enervating effects, and have shown, by the introduc- 
tion of music, drawing, and object lessons, that knowledge, 
to attract a child, must address itself to his perceptions. 
He must first see^ afterwards he will think. Our ablest edu- 
cators argue, and with truth, that our primary school ought 
to be our best school ; that nothing should be learned there 
which in after years must be unlearned ; but that all the seeds 
sown there shall, by careful training, mature into the tall and 
stately tree, which will not only prove an ornament, but a 
great benefit to mankind. 

A little child is like a frail and delicate plant, and shows 
as plainly whether it is as carefully nurtured, and lovingly 



1 8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

sheltered from the chilling winds and biting frost, or left to 
droop and die for want of proper nourishment and tender 
care. When children are properly trained, we shall need no 
more books bearing the title of " Spectacles for Young Eyes." 
The young eyes will not only be able to see what they look 
at, but children will become self-reliant, and learn to think 
and act for themselves. Bishop Potter says : " If I were to 
reduce to a single maxim the concentrated wisdom of the 
world, on the subject of practical education, I should enun- 
ciate a proposition which, I think, is not incorporated as it 
should be into the practices of schools and families. That 
principle is, that in educating the young you serve them most 
effectually, not by what you do to them or for them, but by 
what you teach them to do for themselves. This is the true 
secret of educational development." 

In the Kindergarten, habits of attention are cultivated and 
children are encouraged to give expression to their thoughts, 
to describe what they have seen, and in this way they are 
led to think and compare. 

It is a great misfortune for a little child to be sent to a 
pi'imary school without some developed sense of moral re- 
sponsibility, some defined social virtues, as well as habits of ob- 
servation ; but how can a child who is allowed the freedom of 
the streets from the time he leaves his mother's arms until he 
is five years old, be expected to have many ideas of goodness, 
truth, or beauty? Is he not receiving his first lessons in 
falsehood, profanity, and crime, and preparing himself to be 
a tniant, a pauper, and a convict ? What a blessing would 
the Kindergarten prove to many a poor mother, who is com- 
pelled to leave home every day to gain the means of support 
for her young family! She would no longer be obliged to 
turn them into the streets, to drift about hither and thither 
with the tide, nor keep older children from their schools, to 
take care of these little ones, or, as they express it, " stay at 
home to mind the baby ; " but she could place them in one of 
these nurseries, or Kindergartens, where the little creatures 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 9 

would unconsciously be gaining the moral habits which, in 
after years, will make them good and honest citizens ; an 
honor, rather than a disgrace, to themselves and the commu- 
nity. The natural love of activity which is so strongly 
manifested in young children, is repressed in our present 
schools, while the kindergarten system seeks to develop 
self-activity, knowing that the child's limbs and organs must 
be exercised to a certain extent, before they can become good 
and trusty servants of the mind ; therefore all the plays and 
occupations serve to carry out this idea. 

The child is taught to imitate the motions of the farmer in 
sowing, reaping, threshing, &c. ; of the cooper, wood-sawyer, 
and blacksmith ; and enters into the spirit of the work as 
heartily as though his daily bread depended upon it. 

" He who cliecks a child with terror, 
Stops its play, and chills its song, 
Not alone commits an error, 
But a great and moral wrong. 

Give it play, and never fear it ; 

Active life is no defect ; 
Never, never break its spirit, 

Curb it only to direct. 

Would you stop the flowing river, 

Thinking it would cease to flow ? 
Onward it must flow forever — 

Better teach it where to go." 

Many who know but little, and have thought less, about 
the real benefits to be derived from the Kindergarten, seri- 
ously object to the system, on account of the expense attend- 
ing its introduction. They do not realize that nearly all the 
outlay for materials is made at the beginning ; that the schools 
when once furnished will need few supplies for a number of 
years. There will not be a long list of " city books " to be 
furnished every six months, to each new class, to take the 
place of those which have been studied so hard that there is 
scarcely any thing left of them. 



20 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER, 

By taking children at the age of three, and training them 
in the Kindergarten until they are seven, the primary course 
is very much shortened; for it is claimed, and justly, that the 
child who has enjoyed the advantage of this system four 
consecutive years, can be prepared for the grammar school in 
one year, and be much better fitted than those who have only 
received primary school instruction. 

I know an instance of this kind, and I do not think it an 
exceptional case, where a child who had been only one year 
in a Kindergarten, passed through the regular primary school 
course in another year, thus making only two years of school- 
ing from the time of his entering the Kindergarten until he 
was admitted to the grammar school. The training which is 
received creates a thirst for knowledge, which will not only 
be forcibly felt in our high schools, but in the community at 
large. We shall have more skilled workmen ; for there is no 
art, science, or industry which in its first principles is not 
represented in the occupations of the Kindergarten. We 
shall then be obliged to import neither artist or artisan ; but 
our own supply will be amply sufficient for the demand. 

A very young child shows his power of distinguishing 
sounds by manifesting his delight at some, and his utter dis- 
taste for others. We rarely meet with a child who has not 
an instinctive love for music ; and it is for this reason that 
the mother hushes her babe to sleep by some simple little 
lullaby. All the plays of the Kindergarten are rendered 
doubly attractive to the child, by being accompanied by mu- 
sic, so simple that the ears can easily catch the melody. Not 
only the plays, but many of the occupations, appeal directly 
to the ear, and train it to be very acute. The child acquires 
the habit of doing every thing not by patterns or mechanical 
imitation, but by hearing the directions given by the teacher, 
and then immediately acting on them. If the ear fails to 
perform its important work, the hand will not be able to pro- 
duce. Any teacher will admit that if the Kindergarten can 
train children to hear, the first time they are spoken to, it 



KINDERGARTEN- MESSENGER. 21 

will not only be accomplishing an important work for the 
child, but will be a great aid to the teacher, lightening her 
task, and making her words a power for good instead of fall- 
ing dead upon the ear. 

A child trained in the Kindergarten has not only eyes that 
see and ears that hear, but he has the power of expressing 
what is in his mind, and he is often allowed to direct the oc- 
cupations of his companions, which will be of infinite value 
when he passes to higher schools. 

Compositions, which are now generally considered a bug- 
bear, will be a comparatively easy task for one who has from 
childhood been accustomed to express his thoughts in simple, 
yet gi-ammatical, and well-chosen woi-ds. 

Many young ladies who have received all of the so-called 
fashionable accomplishments, are unable to entertain any one, 
by conversation, for the short space of five minutes, not for 
lack of brains, but because they have no power of expressing 
their thoughts. 

I cannot doubt that Kindergartens will, ere long, be recog- 
nized as the " one thing needful : " then their influence will 
be felt thi'ough all the grades up to polytechnic ; then will 
our public system be a perfect one. " Let us not forget that 
the childhood of to-day will be humanity to-morrow. Ac- 
cording to what the present generation does, the life of that 
which follows will be woven of roses or thorns." 



THE ROSE-WINDOW.* 
No wonder that Wilfred was a lonely child, with no brother 
or sister to play with. And no wonder that the little fellow 



♦ This little story was one of the exercises of Miss Garland's training class, writ- 
ten to illustrate the "Ninth Gift," which consists of rings and parts of rings of 
wire. The young lady who wrote it studied with Miss Garland as an amateur, for 
the sake of self-development and culture. But she proposes to turn her acquire- 
ment to account, by gathering at the South End, a charity Kindergarten, which, 
with the two Kindergartens founded at the North End, she has faith will one day 
be adopted into the public system. 



22 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

would so often steal away to the entry window, and with his 
chin upon the broad sill, watch the clouds that sailed slowly 
by, or the doves that cooed to each other, under the eaves of 
the great cathedral ; or that the cathedral itself should have 
become a familiar object, with its graceful bell-tower, its solid 
buttresses, and great rose-window over the chancel. He had 
traced its curves and circles so many times, that it seemed 
before him wherever he looked. But why was it that when 
he went out to walk with nurse, she always hurried him by 
the open door-way, and would never let him go in to see the 
other side of the big window? And why did mamma always 
sigh, and say the cathedral was papa's tomb ? 

One day his mamma came up into the entry hall and found 
little Wilfred in his favorite position, with his chin upon the 
window-sill, looking out at the great cathedral. But tears 
were standing in his eyes, and the little voice faltered, as he 
said : " Please, mamma, tell me about the rose-window, and 
why the cathedral is papa's tomb ? " 

So mamma took the little head in her lap, and as she stroked 
the soft, light curls, she thought of the time when another 
head, tired and aching, had lain there, and she had stroked 
its soft hair. 

Then mamma told her little boy how his papa had planned 
the cathedral, all but the great rose-window, and for that he 
could invent no pattern worthy to let the light shine through 
into the house of God. And how he had sat up long nights, 
and worked weary days to find the right design, until, at last, 
when he had drawn the graceful curves and circles, he was 
too sick to go about, and could only lie in this very entry- 
window, and watch the men at work. And when, one day, 
the great window was set up, the very day that little Wil- 
fred was born, papa was carried out and buried under the 
floor of the unfinished chancel, with the great window high 
up over his head. 

Mamma again stroked the light hair, and said, " But this 
will not do. My little boy has been too much alone, and he 
must go to school, where he can play with other children, for 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 23 

he is almost five years old." And she kissed the child as she 
looked at the great church opposite, and thought of the Wil- 
fred in that house, too. 

So oneljright sunny day, mamma again came up the stairs to 
take her little Wilfred out to walk. And they went together 
across the common, by the great cathedral, and down a 
street, till they came to a pleasant-looking house, with plants 
and a bird in one window, and more plants and a gold fish 
in the other. They went into this house, and were shown 
into a bright room, where there were some little children 
standing in a circle, and playing such a quiet, pretty game-! 
Soon they all went into another room, singing as they went, and 
mamma and Wilfred followed. The children sat down at 
two long tables, when the teacher came and said : "Would not 
you like to come, too ? See, here is room enough between 
Bertha and Alfred." But Wilfred did not quite like to go, 
till mamma said, " Go, darling. I will stay close by." 

Then one of the little girls went up to the teacher, who 
gave her a box full of rings. And pretty soon she had laid 
before each child a wire ring about two inches in diameter. 
Elsie (for this was the little girl's name) was very careful to 
place it on the table directly before each child, so that the 
centre came where two of the lines which divided the table 
into squares, crossed each other, making four divisions in each 
ring. After Elsie had taken one and sat down, the teacher 
said : " Now let us see what this is, and what it is made of." 
One said, wire. " Yes, and what is wire made of? " But none 
of the children could exactly tell this, so the teacher explained 
how iron was dug out of the ground, melted in big furnaces, 
cooled into long bars, and how these were again melted and 
drawn through a succession of holes, each time becoming 
smaller, till at last it was the wire they saw. Then how it 
was cut into short pieces, and these were soldered together 
to make these little rings. " And now what are they like ? " 
One child thought " like the top of a flower pot ; " another 
"like the round picture frame hanging over the mantle-piece ; " 
Alfred thought it would just slip over one of the balls with 



24 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

"wliich they played the fruit game. The teacher thought so, 
too, and bringing one, asked how it differed ; for were they 
not both round ? Elsie said it was a slice cut out of the middle 
of a ball ; but Bertha said no, because you could put your finger 
through the ring. Then Alfred said it was only the edge of 
the round slice. The teacher now gave each child a half 
' ring, and asked them to hold it in the left hand with the 
ends pointing up, then down, to the right, and then to the 
left hand side. This half ring was then placed beside the 
whole ring, and another half ring given so as to make two 
whole rings. Alfred said they looked like a pair of eye- 
glasses, or cart wheels. Then the half last put down, was 
placed on the opposite side of the whole ring, making a fig- 
ure each side which he thought looked somewhat like an 
hour-glass. Then the position of the half rings was reversed, 
making a form which Bertha called a table-top. 

" Now," said the teacher, " I will give you some more rings, 
and you may make just what you please." 

Again Wilfred wished himself in mamma's lap ; but she 
looked over with a smile, just as the teacher placed before 
him a box filled with rings, as she said, " Can't you make 
something, too?" 

Immediately the thought of the rose-window flashed into 
his mind ; he could see every curve and circle plainly ; so by 
the time the teacher had talked with the other children about 
their spiders and croquet fields and dolly's wagon, Wilfred 
was all ready to explain how this was papa's rose-window in 
the great cathedral. 

The teacher looked pleased to see so beautiful a form ; but 
the mamma silently brushed away a tear, as she thought how 
this little child, by these simple means, had found that for 
which his papa had sought so long and so wearily. 

This was the first of many days for Wilfred at the Kinder- 
garten ; but long years afterwards, when he had become a 
famous designer, he would often kiss his mother's pale cheek, 
and say, " It has all come of the ring exercises at the Kin- 
dergarten." 



MISS PEABODY 

Is open to application for a class in History, either in Cambridge 
or Boston, duiing the coming winter. 

H. N. McKINNEY & CO., 

725 Snmsoii Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 

IN THE PKESS, LECTURE No. 3, ON 

The Relalions I Mokf's & Kindergartener's Doties, 

By Miss E. P. PEABODY. 

LEOPOLD NOAj 

Late Professor of Modern Languages at the Washington University 
of St. Louis, Mo., is open to engagements for teaching them, and for 
fitting pupils for universities in the Classical Languages also. 

Spontaneous testimonials of his abilities as teacher from distin- 
guished persons in London — Kobert Browning, the poet; Sir Henry 
Thompson, the great surgeon; Mr. Charles Macauley; and other 
gentlemen, Avhose children were his pupils — are in the hands 
of Miss Peabody, 19 FoUen Street, Cambridge; copies of which are 
at Williams's Bookstore, corner of School and Washington Streets, 
Boston., 

Mr. Noa also teaches Classical Music — instrumentaland vocal; 
Mathematics and Astronomy; and lectured in London on Human 
Physiology. He may be seen personally at Williams's Bookstore, in 
the morning, and addressed at his own house, Parker Street, Boston 
Highlands. 



fiOlANO G, Umn PHILOSOPHICAL IRIS 



ESSAY ON LANGUAGE. 2d edition. With otlier papers, one being on the 

Plillosophioal Genius of Rev. W. E. Channiiig, I>. D. Published in Boston, 

1857, by Phillips, Sampson. & Co. 
FREEDOM OF MIND IN WILLING; or, Every Being who Wills a Creative 

First Cause. New York : Appleton & Co. 1864. 
TWO LETTERS ON CAUSATION, addressed to John Stuart Mill. With an 

Appendix on the Existence of Matter and our Notions of Infinite Space. 

Boston : Lee & Shepard. 18C9. 
In 1868 Scribner published two works on practical subjects: " Our Resources," and 

" Flnaiice and the Hoiirs of Labor." 

TO SUBSCRIBERS. 

I^^If any have missed numbers hitherto, please make it known ; 
and will all who have not paid for 1874, pay now, with twelve cents 
for postage. 

EJSraLISH SUBSCMIBEIIS 

Can pay by sending post-offlce money orders directed to Miss Snell, 17 Straw- 
berry Bank, Strawben-y Road, Pendleton, in Manchester, England. 
She will also take names of new subscribers. I'rU-t', Fire Sliilfh)i/s. 




A PERIODICAL OF 24 PAGES. 



EDITED BY 
ELIZABETH P. PEABODY. 



TERMS ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR, IN ADVANCE, 

Payable to tlie Editor, 19 Follen Street, Cambridge, Mass. 

Subscribers for 1874 can have the numbers for 1873 at half price — 
fifty cents — as long as the edition holds out. These numbers contain 
important matter that will not be repeated. 

TERMS OF ADVERTISEMENT. 

25 cents a line for short advertisements. 

15 cents a line for advertisements of 12 lines. 

Yearly advertisements as by agreement. 

Advertisements for the inside of the covers are solicited, especially 
from publishers, manufacturers of Kindergarten materials, and teachers 
of any branches of knowledge. 



MRS. KRAUS'BOELTE 

Will make her own arrangements for pupils in the Kindergarten, 
Training Class, &c., at 26 East 50th Street, New York, (D'Aert's 
Institute). 

MRS. THOMAS J. MAGUIRE 

Will open a Kindergarten in St. Lonis College, Nos. 228, 230 & 232 
West 42d Street, New York, on September 23. 

MISS aARLAHD k MISS WESTQH 

Will open their Kindergarten and Advanced Class, on Thursday, 
October 1, 1874, at 98 Chestnut Street, Boston, where applications 
can be made after September 28, daily, between 1 and 3 o'clock. 

The Normal Class will be opened November 1. A thorough 
English education, good general culture, and ability to sing, are 
requisite for admission. 

Summer address, Miss Mary Garland, Bristol. 

Tlie Cliaiiiicy Hall KindergaFta] and Freparatorj 

Will open for both sexes, in September, in the new school-house on Boylston 
Street, near Dartmouth. The Kindergarten -will be limited to fourteen pupils. In 
the Preparatory, part of every session will be devoted to French conversation. 
Both rooms will have the sun all day, and will be warmed in part by open fires. 

For applications, catalogues, etc., see advertisements of the Upper Department 
in the daily papers. CUSHINGS & LADD. 

KINDERGARTEN TRAINING CLASS, 

31 North Fifth Street, Columbus, Ohio. 



m 

Located at IVorthington, Ohio (nine miles north of Columlms). 

CONDITIONS. — Applicants must possess genuine sympathy with childhood, a 

thorough English education, and some musical ability. 
TIME. — The Class will be opened in September. The course will extend thi-ough 

six months, comprising two lessons per week in Theory, with observation 

and practice in the Kindergarten. No applications received aftea Oct. 1st. 
TEKMS.— Tuition for the whole course, $50. 
Boarding.— In Columbus, can be obtained at $6.50 per week. In Worthington, 

at $3 per week. 

Address, Mrs. JOHN OaDEN, 31 N, Fifth St,, Columbus, Ohio, 



ittd^tpttjjtt ^mm^n. 



Vol. II. — OCTOBER, 1874.— No. 10. 



A NEW MOVEMENT FOR INTE&EAL EDUCATION. 

Sever A.L years since, a lady physician of Boston, whose hu- 
mane heart, as well as her profession, brought her into close 
relations with the lower stratum of society, undertook the 
work of rousing the self-respect of women and young girls, 
who live by preying on society, by beggary, and worse means. 
She did it in the spirit in which Christ approaches the weak 
and tempted — by awakening hope, and educating power; 
and the means she used was that by which the first curse was 
lifted from the primeval sinners — voluntary work ! 

A three years' experiment of an Industrial School, taught 
by genial sympathizers, of which she was the chief (who bore 
all the expense of the experiment, not less than a thousand 
dollars of hard cash), convinced all who knew the details of 
her plan, and the results, that the medicine- for the sickness 
of society is Industrial Education. 

In 1872, she read a memorial upon the subject before the 
Massachusetts legislature, which was "printed by a merchant 
on India Street, and distributed widely ; and before the leg- 
islature rose, it passed a law that the common school money 
might be used to introduce industrial arts into the common 
school curriculum. 

On May 21, 1874, a few of our best citizens had a meeting 
to devise methods of putting this law into execution. The 
evening was very rainy, and the company that assembled 
was small; but the Hon. Josiah Quincy presided, and Dr. 



2 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

Bartol, the Rev. Mr. Alger, Dr. E. H. Clarke, and Mr. John 
Orvis, spoke, severally setting forth that industrial was an 
indispensable part of an integral, liberal education. Dr. Bar- 
tol showed its bearings upon the generous development of 
the individual ; Mr. Alger, upon the full development of the 
republic ; Mr. Orvis, upon the moral harmony and peace of 
. society ; Dr. E. H. Clarke, upon the physical perfection of the 
individual; Rev. Julius Ferrette, upon the continued exis- 
tence and adequate generation of the race. 

The audience, "fit though few," expressed earnest interest 
in all these remarkable discourses, and, at the end of the 
meeting, nominated and elected five persons as the nucleus 
of a society pledged to keep the subject before the people, 
till the law above mentioned should be made effective. The 
editor of the Messenger was made one of the three direc- 
tors, and accepted, because every word that was said verified 
the doctrine and method of development proposed by Froe- 
bel to begin in the Kindergarten. 

On applying to each of the speakers for their own reports 
of their remarks, only Dr. Clarke and Bishop Ferrette found 
time and opportunity to comply with the request, with any 
fullness. The others will doubtless repeat the same excellent 
substance, in other meetings to be called this fall. We copy 
from the Unitarian Meview^ of September, these two, which 
bear so vitally upon the bodily health and existence, as well 
as the life of the mind. They are in fine harmony with the 
chapters translated from the Baroness Marenholtz-Bulow on 
^'■Labor, and the preparation for it made in Froebel's Kinder- 
garten." We beg our subscribers to take some pains to spread 
among their fellow-citizens the articles in our August, Septem- 
ber, and October numbers, on intelligent and creative labor, 
as a part and means and end of education. On it depends 
not only the salvation but the glory of America. 

Dr. Clarke said : 

" That to speak on this subject was very apt to incur the 
charge of materialism j but that as mind is only manifested 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 3 

through matter, the Divine Mind through the universe about 
us, and the human mind through and by a human body, it is 
not materialism to say that the manifestation of spiritual and 
intellectual power in men and women will depend upon the 
perfection with which their whole organization is developed, 
and that to have education, industrial as well as intellectual, 
is indispensable to a fair development of the body, of which 
the brain is the central or controlling organ. The brain guides 
and governs and co-ordinates all the rest of the organism. 
But the brain cannot grow by itself alone. Its best devel- 
opment is only possible in connection and harmony with the 
development of all the other oi'gans. An overworked or ill- 
used stomach disturbs and dwarfs the brain as much as dis- 
turbance and overwork of the brain deranges the stomach. 
And of all the organs it can be said that they influence the 
brain as much as the brain influences them. Industrial schools, 
therefore, mean a great deal more than industry. They mean 
education of the brain quite as much as schools devoted only 
to teaching by books mean education of the brain. This is 
strikingly illustrated by the fact that the majority of the 
world are right-handed. They are so because the left side of 
the brain is more developed than the right side, and the nerves 
which guide and govern the right hand cross from the left side 
of the brain to the right side ; and, on the other hand, by the 
training and exercise of the hands, the brain in its turn is 
trained and exercised and developed. How this use of the 
right hand began in the first place it may not be easy to say, 
but doubtless now, with its accompaniment and cause (a 
larger left lobe to the brain), it is transmitted by hereditary 
descent. It is a fact that the majority of children use the 
right hand without being taught. The exceptions prove the 
rule. In the few instances in which children use the left hand 
most readily the right side of the brain, which governs it, is 
the largest. Hence one of the most eminent of living phy- 
siologists has strenuously advocated the systematic training 
of the left hand in children, as a means of developing the 



4 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

right side of the brain, and adding tb the intellectual power 
of the human race. But the hand is not the only organ of 
the body which affects the brain. The exercise of all the or- 
gans does so. At the same time it should be remembered 
that the excessive use of any organ will develop it to the 
injury of the rest of the body. Force may be abnormally 
diverted from the brain to the hand, or to some other bodily 
organ, and the brain will suffer, or the reverse may take place. 
Labor of the body, without the mind of the worker directs 
the labor, will not develop the brain, but make a man a me- 
chanical drudge. Our common schools, thei'efore, should all 
involve the processes of our institutes of technology, in which 
the eye, the ear, the hand, and the feet should be trained 
equally with the brain proper, not only for the purpose of 
educating them, but for the purpose of developing the brain 
through them. Books alone only do half-work in education." 

This is but an outline of an able and comprehensive speech. 
Dr. Clarke illustrated his meaning by saying that a man of 
fifty years of age, v^^ithout any education by books, beyond 
the newspapers, but skilled in manufacturing, agricultural, or 
other bodily labor would, in his opinion, be more generally 
intelligent, have more intuition and judgment, and his opin- 
ion on any subject be of more worth than that of another 
man, who had spent all his life in literary and scientific study, 
— but without any exercise of the executive ability in life. 
Men very learned in books are notorious for being personally 
helpless, absent-minded, and , inefficient in affairs. Their 
overwrought brains are morbid and unserviceable ex:cept in 
particulars, and even in what they could do best they could 
not do it so well as if there were a more balanced develop- 
ment of all that constitutes manliness. 

Rev. Julius Ferrette said : 

" That the other speakers had shown that manual labor, far 
from being degrading, is essential to the perfection of even 
the highest mind. But is there not a thing more primarily 
essential than even perfection, — namely, existence ? When 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 5 

an individual, a family, a civilization, pass away from the 
world, their perfection, however great it may have been, 
passes away with them. We cannot value too highly that 
perfection which, in the individual or in society, results from 
literary, scientific, and artistic training, and from the enjoy- 
ment of the social and material comforts of civilized life. 
But whether we look to the history of the civilizations which 
preceded ours, or to the statistics of our present one, we find 
in facts the expression of the same law, namely ; that educa- 
tion, refinement, civilization, the things which chiefly make 
life worth having, instead of leading to life, lead to death, to 
the extinction of the individual, of the family, of the nation 
possessed of them. Now, as in old time, in this country as 
in the old world, though to a less extent, the upper, that is, 
the educated and refined classes die out. The more educated 
and refined a man or woman is, the less likely it is that they 
will transmit to a posterity their education and refinement 
and their keener sense of moral principle. The upper classes 
die out, and the vacancies have to be filled up by the rising of 
the lower classes, relative barbarians, who, in rising, bring up 
with them into the higher spheres of society, into the lawyer's 
oflSce or into the senate chamber, their lower standard of 
morals, their bad grammar and their spittoons. They, it is 
true, or their children, will in their turn be fitted by educa- 
tion for the higher sphere of life that they have now reached, 
but fitted for it only to die of it in their turn, and leave their 
place to another contingent raised from the lower classes. 
So that all our efibrts to raise the social level by education, 
instead of securing pei'manent results, are like so much water 
thrown into that fabled bottomless barrel, it is always to re- 
commence. It is under the operation of this law that the 
civilizations which have preceded ours have died ; and ours 
will die under it also, and the present noble population of this 
country yield its place to immigration, not all of the same 
high type, unless we who have solved many problems left to 
us by former ages can solve this also. To find the remedy 



6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

of an evil we must study its causes. This dying away of the 
upper classes may be referred to two principal causes — an 
economical and a physiological one. 

" To speak of the economical cause first : A higher educa- 
tion, such as a literary, artistic, or professional one, either fits 
its possessor for no kind of remunerative labor, or for those 
kinds of labor which are deemed gentlest and easiest, and 
therefore most desirable. Hence it is in the nature of things 
that professions and lighter branches of even manual labor 
should be overcrowded, and that many of those who have 
been taught no other means of support should be kept a part 
of their time out of employment, and in mental and material 
difficulties which make it impracticable for them to marry 
and have large families. The rich, as a rule, wish to see 
their children as rich as themselves, and when their few chil- 
dren happen to die, or not to be born, which is frequently 
the case in one generation or another, a rich family dies out. 

" But beside this economical cause there is a physiological 
one. It has been shown how bodily development is indispen- 
sable to intellectual and moral development, and no doubt 
intellectual development is in its turn necessary to the proper 
rythmical action and growth of the body. An undue pre- 
ponderance of intellectual over bodily exercise, much more 
the complete exclusion of the latter, tends in two or three 
generations to produce a feeble race, unfit to reproduce itself. 
What a family which for two or three generations has pro- 
duced only professors and physicians and lawyers and politi- 
cians, or else idle rich, would then require, in order to escape 
extinction, would be to return for an equal number of gener- 
ations, at least, to the sphere of manual labor — to take in 
labor a good tonic bath that would reinvigorate it. 

" In a well-constituted aquarium the decay, or rather the 
produce, for there is no decay in nature, of vegetation goes to 
the support of animal life ; and likewise the elements set free 
by fishes and mollusks go to the support of aquatic and other 
plants. A well-constructed aquarium would be the realiza- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. J 

tion of perpetual motion in life ; one kind of life in it would 
support another indefinitely. But a tree planted in a flower- 
pot and left there to itself must die in a given time, for the 
flower-pot principle is one of self-exhaustion. In a society 
constituted according to the aquarium principle there would 
be a constant interchange of beneficial contributions between 
the classes devoted to manual and those devoted to intellec- 
tual labor. Instead of manual laborers rising to the upper 
spheres only to die, they would stay there only long enough 
to acquire individual and hereditary refinement, and, coming 
down with it again to the spheres of labor, ennoble labor. In 
fact it would be no more deemed a coming down at all, but 
a mere change of occupation, and thus should be removed 
all occasion for that class feeling of envy on one part and of 
haughtiness on the other which little befits a republic. 

" As an adopted citizen," said Mr. Ferrette, " it would be 
both ungraceful and ungrateful for me to speak of this coun- 
try in a blaming spirit. It is because the first American 
colonists came chiefly from educated classes, and on their 
arrival here were by necessity thrown upon manual labor, 
that they forever imparted to labor in America that nobility, 
and to the American laborer that superior type, with which 
Europe has nothing to compare. Still the problem is not 
solved here, as long as here though to a less degree than in 
Europe, the higher education is, the more surely it leads to 
elimination. The problem will be solved here^ when the State 
secures that, whatever education a man receives, that educa- 
tion will before all things make him a complete man, his 
mental and physical powers being equally developed, and 
also enable him to make a living under any circumstances, 
and thereby support a family through which the type of civ- 
ilization which he has received may be perpetuated. The 
only kinds of labor which are sure under any circumstances 
always to yield a support are the various kinds of manual 
labor, especially the simpler ones, such as that of farming. 
Such kinds of labor are what we call industries. A poor 



8 KINDER GAR TEN MESSENGER. 

man who has no industry whereby he can make a living, un- 
der any circumstances, is a pauper. A rich man who has no 
such industry to fall back upon, if he loses his wealth, is an 
aristocrat by accident, but personally a pauper. A republic 
wants no paupers and no aristocrats. But experience shows 
that men are disinclined to manual labor, and desj)ise it often 
-more than crime, unless trained to it in youth. Industrial 
education secured to the whole youthful population is, there- 
fore, an absolute requirement in this country. It will com- 
plete its institutions, and make this republic what a perfect 
society should be : a complete cosmos, solving its own prob- 
lems, providing by the circulation of its elements for the 
support of all its parts, and, like an aquarium, or like the 
universe, theoretically at least, incapable of loss of power or 
of decay." 



EDUCATION BY LABOR. * 

CHAPTER I. 

[Continued from September number.] 

In order that this legitimate method shall be really suc- 
cessful, it must proceed in the same conformity with law and. 
according to the same rules as nature itself. Froebel could 
not but perceive the laws according to which the human soul 
proceeds, in order to apply the same laws to the physical 
activity of the child. To securely establish the yet insuffi- 
ciently known psychology of the child, he was obliged to 
ground these upon the childish play for giving educational 
support ; upon the science of the natural process of the child's 
soul. 

And that he did this, constitutes the importance of his 
invention {Erfindung). He used for this purpose every 
thing that Pestalozzi had found beforehand, and broke ground 
still farther in this direction. 

* Copyright secured according to law. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 9 

Like the progressive steps of development in the organ- 
isms of nature, are the corresponding steps in the development 
of the child's soul. The senses which exist at first, only as 
a general feeling, as one^ gradually vt^ake up, one after another, 
and demand gratification (specifically). Before the childish 
eye perceives colors, it has perceived form ; * it has recognized 
the size of things before it has conceived the relations of 
number; and so on. Froebel's method of play takes this 
into account in the choice and succession of its objects. Ac- 
cording to it, the simple, the simplest, things always pre- 
cede the compound objects. For example, with the round 
form (the ball, the original cell) begins a series of playthings 
for the child, of useful regular or normal forms, which proceed 
logically (folgeriehtig) from the simplest to many-sided bodies 
arising from subdivisions of the material. Divided bodies lead 
to comparison of surfaces and their forms. Plane surfaces 
are cut into strips to embody the line; little round bodies 
(peas) embody the point. Thus a passage is made from the 
solid to the point, giving appreciation of the relations of form 
and size, and preparing for the perception of mathematical 
abstractions, through impressions — nothing further. Pesta- 
lozzi also had expressed the need of getting designedly 
arranged impressions for the child, because every conception 
— all thinking — comes from representations taken by im- 
pression on the senses from the surroundings of the child. 
The Kindergarten ofiers for physical and mental development : 

1. A series of gymnastic plays, called "movement plays," 
which exercise the limbs and muscles as symmetrically as 
possible. The greater number of these plays are representa- 
tions from the life of nature, professional life, &c., and are 
accompanied by singing, making the first musical exercise. 

2. Garden culture, giving the first direction to the care of 
plants in the children's own garden-beds, which serves like- 
wise for bodily strengthening, and for what is so imj)ortant 
to child-life, the contemplation of nature and its products. 

* We doubt t\Aa.— Translator. 



lO KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

3. Manifestations in the form, of plays^ which lead the 
imagination of the child to the life of reality (realization), 
simultaneously with acquisition of skill through the strength- 
ening and flexibility of the fingers, and overcoming bodily 
heaviness and indolence. 

4. Occupations with different materials, teaching the 
child how to handle each material and to know its peculiari- 
ties, through a regular succession, from the ruder to ever finer 
kinds of material. (Elements of knowledge and command 
of material.) 

5. A series of little works executed in play by which chil- 
dren are prepared for the technicalities of the usual handicrafts 
and arts. The greater number of these may be reduced to 
conditions in conformity with each other, by the building, 
folding, pricking, stick-laying, the drawing, pea-work and 
modelling in clay, all of which Froebel suggests, in order to 
prepare manifold power of technical execution. 

6. Meligious Songs^ which are sung at the beginning and 
closing of the exercises, short prayers (thanksgivings) ar- 
ranged to tunes, for which children's dispositions are prepared 
by pointing to the facts of God's goodness and wisdom, pa- 
tent in nature and human life, that serve to awaken religious 
sentiment; also observations of nature and little stories. 
(Religious Education is, as with every proper educator, the 
chief object and aim of Froebel's method, and needs a special 
treatise to be given elsewhere.) 

7. Linear drawing in the net, by which is added to the 
above exercises in work, a method of advancing every child 
who frequents the Kindergarten up to his seventh year, to 
the point of drawing straight lines and curves correctly, and 
combining them in newly-invented forms by following the 
simple law of symmetrical correspondence. This drawing, 
together with modelling and other occupations, serves to make 
intelligible the relations of size and number and the elements 
of mathematics, but only as a series of simple experiences 
and sensuous perceptions, not as conceptions of the mind, and 



KINDERGARTEN' MESSENGER. II 

without any formula ; for instance, by laying fifty inch squares, 
children can demonstrate Py thagoras's problem of the equality 
of the square of the hypothenuse to the sum of the squares 
of the katets, one katet being three inches, the other nine- 
(Elements of knowledge and original thinking.) 

It may arouse opposition that Froebel's method gives phy- 
sical symbols for mathematical relations and conceptions; 
but does not every teacher of mathematics do the same 
thing, when, for the easier comprehension of his scholars, he 
draws mathematical figures upon the blackboard ? The sci- 
ence of mathematics rests partly upon experiment, as every 
other science does. There could be no question of the ab- 
straction of the relations of size and numbers, if these rela- 
tions could not be perceived in bodies. If it is true, that 
there is nothing in the mind (that is, nothing waked up) 
which is not first in the sense, then must forms be given to 
the child, to prepare for mathematical conceptions. This 
cannot be done better than by Froebel's method, viz., to let 
the child make combinations while playing with different 
normal forms, through which mathematical relations manifest 
themselves. Nothing of the conceptions themselves will be 
given thus ; (that would be impossible at that early age) but 
only perceptions upon which later mathematical instruction 
can be based. Distinguished mathematicians (for example, 
B. Buckey de Cubiere, in Paris,) have recognized the great 
importance of Froebel's procedure in this relation. 

As these exercises of Froebel's consist in representations 
of forms and figures, they are plastic, and develop the mind 
for forms, for symmetry, and for harmony. The combination 
of forms, colors, &c., exercise the faculty of combining and 
the taste; and with this last, the sense of the beautiful and 
the creative imagination are continually active. The artistic, 
the aesthetic, the ideal in general, is aroused, not in a contem- 
plative manner, but quite practically ; the child himself execu- 
ting and forming freely. (Elements of the Practise of Fine 
Arts.) 



12 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER, 

It is surely of the greatest importance for the laborer, that 
the kingdom of the beautiful be unlocked for him in child- 
hood, and that those chords of his soul resound, which but 
too easily grow dumb, through the cares of material life, and 
the din of the workshop, when education has not paved the 
way for a certain artistic culture. 

- If labor is to do more than the earning of one's bread, it 
must satisfy the aesthetic mind, or be done as the fulfilment 
of duty to the common weal ; it must reach beyond the merely 
selfish circle of its own material welfare. The children of the 
working classes seldom learn this at their homes. "You 
must work to earn your bread " is what they hear, what they 
grow up with, and, for the majority, the only spur that urges 
them to work ! 

By working in common in the Kindergarten, and by regu- 
lated work in common, an egotistical action, working for 
one's self, is not meant. At first the work is for the pleasure 
of it, that^ indeed^ makes it play; but what is produced by 
this work is/br the enjoyment of others, of comrades, of par- 
ents, or for the good of the institution, perhaps to increase 
the collection of its beautiful works, or in order that some of 
the little productions, like mats, straw-braiding, paper and 
paste-board work, may be sold to support it. Childhood is 
never to earn for itself, in order that it may keep aloof from 
lust of gain, that frightful moral malady of our time ! (Ele- 
ments of work for moral improvement.) 

The great mass of the children of the lowest class of peo- 
ple, to whom no family love, no domestic life, and especially 
no loving companionship is allotted — such a companionship 
as the Kindergarten offers, is the greatest blessing for their 
whole existence. They learn, in this little community, in 
which each takes his own place, and where all have their 
rights and fulfil their duties, how to love ; how to devote 
themselves to something larger and higher than the individual; 
how to prepare themselves for law-abiding and duty-doing 
citizens, on however low a step of the social ladder they may 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 3 

stand. Only when the sense of belonging together is awak- 
ened early, can national spirit develop itself in the younger 
generation, always ready to make sacrifices for the country. 

It may always be seen, on occasions when people assemble 
in multitude, * that companionship exalts to inspiration. The 
joyfulness of self-sacrifice exalts to inspiration those who, as 
mere individuals, act selfishly and feel narrow-hearted. Com- 
panionship awakens the instinct of the ideal, and elevates 
each one to the feeling of fellowship. 

Much is yet wanting before our childhood and youth shall 
be ofiered the full opportunity to practice these virtues of 
companionship ; to learn to fulfil the duties of citizenship. 
But it needs a beginning in order to add a farther unfolding 
in the later stages of life. To expect to awaken love of 
country in youth, when childhood is passed in egotistical 
isolation, perhaps under the influence of parents who, anima- 
ted by a vulgar avarice, have taught their children to look 
upon the over-reaching of a neighbor as an allowable thing, 
is an empty delusion ! The proverb, " He sucked it in with 
his mother's milk," which indicates the inefiaceableness of 
first impressions, is here verified. Public spirit arises only 
out of early participation in the common weal. It is sadly 
wanting now to our childhood, in all classes of society, f but 
the little children of the poor, outside of the Kindergarten, 
have only the companionship of the streets, which is always 
more or less immoral. 

What the tilt-yards are, or will become, for riper youth, as 
wrestling grounds, is necessary for early childhood ; not only 
necessary as places of exercise for the strengthening of the 
limbs, but as an arena for the wrestling of the mind, that is 
for the application of the spiritual jDOwers, and for work as a 
means oi culture. 



* This is true even in America, where all men are politically recognized as equal 
children of God. — Translator. 
t This was written in Germany, in 1858. 



14 " KINDERGARTEIsr MESSENGER. 

Because Froebel's method combines bodily and intellectual 
labor, working and learning, in the play of the child, it yields 
the only mode of life fitted for this age ; not merely for learn- 
ing's sake, nor merely for work's sake, but for the free and 
glad exercise of all the powers and talents of the human being. 

In after years, by gradual transitions, working and learning 
separate themselves from play, till they become independent, 
each one for itself ; and then play will claim its special hours 
for recreation. 

A real fusion of learning, working, and playing, is only 
possible, when the objects which serve the child in its play, 
are not ready made, but invite independent mental and bodily 
action upon them. Had mankind found every thing in the 
world ready made; had all objects for the gratification of 
material and spiritual wants, been already in existence, there 
would have been no question of the development and culture 
of the human race. The necessary care of the products of 
nature, the working up, transformation, and combination of 
them, first awakened, and then cultivated, the impulses of hu- 
man activity. 

So, ready made playthings hinder childish activity, and 
train to laziness and thoughtlessness; and hence are much 
more injurious than can be expressed. The impulse to activ- 
ity then turns to destruction of the ready made things, and 
becomes at last a real spirit of destructiveness. 

Also, merely mechanical work of the children, that which 
is done without exciting the imaginative faculties, is likewise 
injurious, because thereby the intellect becomes inactive. 

Froebel's method aims to give nothing but the material of 
play — nothing ready made. The transforming of this ma- 
terial wherein play and work consist, is done according to 
law, in a free, inventive, productive manner. The mind of 
the adult which has come to consciousness of law through 
experience, here comes in to the aid of the unconscious and 
blindly-groping activity of the child, in order to save him 
from wasting himself in errors, and give right direction to the 
original strivings for culture. [ To be continued.'] 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER, 1 5 

MUSIC IN KINDERGARTENS. 

TVe have received a letter from Mr. Charles Richter, of 
St. Louis, who earnestly desires us to publish it, as answer to 
Mrs. Kraus-Boelte's last article on the " Songs of Froebel." 

He says of her remark, " Let us not try to improve Froe- 
bel's Songs," " I am astonished to hear such words in the 
nineteenth century from such a distinguished and accomplished 
lady as Mrs. Kraus-Boelte. I think our motto must be, ' im- 
prove wherever you can.' Even birds' songs are improved^ 
for they are taught by means of little organs ; and if we had 
never made any improvement in our songs, we should sing 
like the Indians, which we call yelling. Froebel took tem- 
porary popular melodies, because he was not a composer ; and 
because he expected some more competent person to take his 
hint. I speak as a practical singing teacher and musician." 

To Mrs. Kraus-Boelte's remark that " Froebel's established 
Kindergarten songs are known now throughout the world," 
he replies, " Even if they were known all over the world, 
children have to learn them. But they will learn simple mel- 
odies, in which the notes mostly lie in the chord, or form a 
scale, much easier than some of those popular or operatic 
songs, or such as have not been composed by competent and 
practical persons. The trouble will fall on teachers who are 
not able to read notes, not on the children. I take, for instance, 
the ' Pendulum.' How hard it must be to keep time to those 
triplets ; and how unlike is that movement to the moving of 
a pendulum ! 

" I do not compare my experience of Kindergartens to that 
of so experienced a teacher as Mrs. Kraus-Boelte, but I take 
the liberty to assure you that my ' Kindergarten Songs ' have 
been played by the ohildren at the Mary Institute, in St. 
Louis, under the direction of Miss Henrietta Noa, with great 
success; and I am convinced that they could be used by 
children two years old with the same success; for some of 
them are for very small children. I speak as a practical mu- 
sician and teacher ; and I believe if Mrs. Kraus-Boelte would 
examine my songs carefully, she would change her opinion." 

At all events, the little book of Mr. Richter's Songs, is a 
great resource for the many primary schools that like to ame- 
liorate their routine with Froebel's movement plays. It may 
be had at N. C. Peabody's Homoeopathic Pharmacy, 56 Beach 
Street, Boston, and at J. L. Peters's, Broadway, N. Y. 



1 6 KINDERGARTEN- MESSENGER. 

REPORT UPON THE SUBJECT OF KINDERGARTENS. 

[By Herr Heinricks Axends, printed in the " Staats Zeitung " of New York.] 
(Weekly issue of July 13.) 

This is a masterly exposition of the claims of Froebel's 
Kindergarten, and should be translated into English and 
thrown broadcast over our country. We wish our little 
-monthly had room for it, but it should be put into the 
'Weekly Tribune^ or some other paper of widest circula- 
tion. It contains the most appreciative and at the same 
time discriminating notice of Pestalozzi given any where, 
and it gives an account and analysis of Socrates and Plato's 
views of education, showing them to have been of the same 
spirit, and aiming at the same effect as those of Froebel, 
who, as it were, rediscovered them in the nineteenth cen- 
tury. 

The writer copies a record made of fifty-two years of offi- 
cial superintendence of the schools of one small German 
city, which may teach conservatives that all that is old is 
not wise and good. 

There were recorded: 

911,527 floggings (800,000 for errors in latin.) 

124,010 lashings of the rod (76,000 for missing in recitations 
from the Bible and Psalter.) 

20,989 blows with the ruler or fist. 

136,715 hand blows. 

10,235 boxings of the ears. 

7,905 pullings of the ears. 

1,115,800 head crackings. 

22,763 strokes for missing in catechism, grammar. 

777 boys had knelt upon peas, 613 upon a triangular block, 
and 1,707 had been made to hold the rod over their heads. 

In comparing this record with the views expressed (and 
undoubtedly for the time acted upon in Greece, twenty- 
three centuries before), we shall see that human progress is 
not a river shooting straight down the ages, but a very wind- 
ing one, and often doubling back for years. The truth is 
eternally present, and bubbles up from the depth underlying 
and close at hand, and now is the ' day of salvation ' always 
at hand, if men will but open their eyes and see, and do ac- 
cordingly. " Ye will not come unto me that ye may have 
life," is forever the cry of the Educating Saviour of men, 
who can make for us also a thousand years as one day ! 



I 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 7 

A STORY is told of an Eastern king, who, on a certain day- 
was giving audience to several ambassadors from distant 
countries, when he saw a black man come in, leading a lai'ge 
and powerful lion by a slender chain. He approached the 
king, and told him he had brought him a present, which he 
hoped he would receive. 

The king was very much pleased, and when he saw that a 
beast, commonly so savage and dangerous, was as gentle as 
a lamb, and did not offer to hurt any one, or even to escape, 
he inquired of the African how he had tamed him ; and was 
told, that he had taken him when very small, always treated 
him with kindness, and fed him out of his own hand. 

The king, it is said, was more thoughtful and wise than 
most people are, and also a better friend of the young. He 
turned to some of his officers who were sitting by, and said : 

" That is the way to train up children. Begin their edu- 
cation while they are very small; treat them so they will 
love you, have them constantly under your care, and give to 
them yourself what you wish them to have." 

How many men and women might have learned to govern 
their bad passions while they were children, if they had been 
treated in this manner ! Careful education, as the African 
found, will change the character of a lion ; and many other 
such animals have been made almost as tame as that which 
he led to the eastern king. Parents and older brothers and 
sisters should recollect, when they have the care of a pas- 
sionate or vicious child, that if they pursue the right course, 
they may hopes, to correct his faults, and make him a happy 
and useful man. 



We were obliged to omit the "Intelligence" from the 
September number, because of our absence at the National 
Convention at Detroit, Michigan, the first week in August, 
and at Shippensburg, Pa., the week after. 

We regretted it the less, because it enabled us to give a 
larger portion of the Baroness Marenholtz's " Education by 
Labor, on Froebel's Principle." The new interest that is 
taken in industrial and art education, is creating a demand 



1 8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

for this volume, which, we think, a shrewd publisher should 
presently meet. But until then, we shall go on giving it 
piece meal, for nothing better has been said. 

There was no time given, nor person asked to speak of 
Kindergarten, at the National Convention. But Mr. Ogden, 
of the normal school of Worthington, whose able wife keeps 
the training school at Columbus, which is advertised on our 
covers, spoke of its importance in his discourse before the nor- 
mal department; and the editor of the Messengek joined in 
the few remarks on it that followed ; and she also said a few 
words about it, after Mrs. C. A. Martin had read her very- 
important paper on " What should be Taught in our Element- 
ary Schools ? " than which, nothing said at the Convention 
was of more practical value. By implication, unconsciously 
on her own part, she demonstrated the need of Kindergartens, 
whose preliminary discipline does so much to save time in 
the schools of instruction, by preparing children to enter 
them at seven years old, so ready and able to drink in knowl- 
edge that they learn to read and spell 'perfectly in a time so 
shoi't, that it is incredible to those who have not witnessed 
it, and in a manner so pleasant that books, never having 
been to them distressing annoyances nor counters^ become 
at once living persons, as it were, of the most attractive 
character. This is true, even when reading is taught in the 
common way ; and eminently so, if taught according to the 
plan suggested in the chapter on Reading in my ' Kindergar- 
ten Guide,' which is published by Schermerhorn, of New 
York. 

We are glad to see that Mrs. Martin's admirable paper is 
published in the Massachusetts Teacher, and also reprinted in 
a pamphlet. It ought to be in the hands of every school 
committee-man in the country ; and of every primary teacher. 
Dr. Andrew Peabody, professor of Moral Philosophy at Cam- 
bridge University, was one of the audience, and after it was 
read, he expressed with great earnestness, his admiration and 
'unity with it' (as the Quakers say). Nor should he be con- 




KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 9 

tent, he said, with merely speaking of it there, but being himself 
on the School Committee of Cambridge, he should return 
home and work immediately for the radical reforms Mrs. 
Martin had shown to be so necessary, since so immense a major- 
ity of our school children terminate their school education at 
foui'teen years of age. 

The great point she made was, that a third of the school 
time should be devoted to biography, history, and standard 
works of literary art, as she showed could be done, if " the 
three R's " were taught rationally. 

Froebel's disciples also show that these could always be 
taught, both rationally and quickly, if children came to school 
with the integral development of the Kindergarten : More- 
over, it can be shown, that to make all handiwork artistic, as 
Kindergarten finds it natural to do, will make handicrafts and 
other practical work of common life, conspire with literature, 
to begin a really generous culture in the children who have 
to leave school at fourteen years of age. 

VTe have, however, some exceptions to take to Mrs. Mar- 
tin's paper, though mainly we admire and sympathize with it 
in its criticism on the common teaching, as well as in its gen- 
eral suggestions of improvement. We demur to what she 
says about ciphering, and her not discriminating the com- 
mon abuse of Colburn's method, from what it was as it came 
from Colburn himself, to whom to this day, as little justice has 
been done by those who have endeavored to improve upon 
him as to Froebel, by many who take his name in vain, to 
spread their own notions. I, myself, came into the profes- 
sion of teaching simultaneously with the publication of Col- 
bui-n's " First Lessons," fifty years since ; and had the privi- 
lege of his personal acquaintance. He had, to a certain 
extent, Froebel's idea that the teacher should make every 
child a discoverer, having in his mind the thing signified 
before the sign ; and that when he came to the point of using 
signs, operations should precede abstract rules. This first 
edition was accompanied by a little book oimarJcsto be counted 



20 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER, 



by the child, and underlie, in his sensuous memory, the names 
of the numbers and figures. He deprecated any action of 
mere memory in arithmetical exercise. He was as clear as 
Froebel on the point, that perfect perception based oh lively 
impressions of the senses make memory inevitable. He 
would have entirely agreed with Mrs. Martin, that real poetry, 
which Milton defines as " simple, sensuous, and sublime," 
was the best thing for memoriter exercises ; while arithmetic 
and geometry exercise the calculating powers. The arith- 
metic and geometry, concrete in the exercises with the blocks, 
planes, and sticks of the Froebel " occupations," would have 
exactly met his idea of the preliminary processes of mathe- 
matics. 

And we have seen his arithmetic used, according to his 
idea, in the advanced class of one Kindergarten, where, after 
the children had learned to read in less than six weeks (by 
my method), they were quite delighted to read aloud to each 
other, and answer on the spot the practical questions of 
Colburn's arithmetic; all of which they did do, and after- 
wards began their ciphering with representing the operations 
with which they were familiar, by the signs of plus and 
minus, multiplication and division. After that, and for the 
manipulation of large sums, they could easily and profitably 
be introduced to the decimal notation, and the old fashioned 
addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, long and 
short. We ourselves learnt to ' do these first,' to be ' under- 
stood afterwards,' as Mrs. Martin proposes; and we experi- 
enced the harm of it. But we used to say, when we came 
to teach Colburn's arithmetic, under the personal inspiration 
of Colburn himself, that no study had such marked moral 
effect as his " mental exercises," inducing taste for a certain 
integrity and general probity. 

Colburn believed that his principle of discovery might be 
applied to all other branches; but as he left the field of 
education for another important work, which absorbed him 
during his all-too-short earthly career, he could only set 




KINDERGARTEN- MESSENGER. 21 

others upon the elaboration of his principle in the other 
directions ; one of whom, after much personal effort to apply 
it to geometry, grammar, morals, &c., has at last accepted, at 
the hands of Froebel, its application in every direction. Col- 
burn, Froebel, and Agassiz, coincided in one first principle of 
education. They all said, give to the child no arbitrary sign, 
neither vocal nor written, until he has the object, or the feel- 
ing, or the relation it stands for, in the mental experience. 
Awaken love and trust, by your genial dealings with the child, 
and then bring him forth "into the light of things," and let 
" Nature be his teacher." God provides that grand normal 
school for his children — as Bacon proved.* 

At Shippensburg, principally through the influence of the 
Rev. Joseph Travelli, chaplain of the western penitentiaryj 
Alleghany City, who is a most appreciative friend of Froe- 
bel's Kindergarten, the depths of whose moral and religious 
power his heart divines, a half hour was appropriated for the 
editor of the Messenger to make a statement of its principles 
and their general bearings, which will be printed in the State 
Journal of Education, published at Lancaster, in October. 
And both at Detroit and Shippensburg, there was opportunity 
given and improved, for much tete-a-tete conversation about 
Kindergarten, and the impression resulting was very encour- 
aging. There is evidently a strong feeling widely prevalent 
that there is something very important in this system, and also 
a salutary fear of children's becoming the victims of an incom- 
petent person, whose main attraction to it is that it is going 
to i^ay in money. Perhaps the poverty in which it has had 
to begin will be of use in driving the mere money-makers 
from it. 

At Shippensburg, we were delighted, most of all, by a 
lecture on " The Importance of Literary Culture," given by 
the principle of the State Normal School, of Millersville, Pa., 
J. Willis Westlake, A. M. It was the very counterpart of 
Mrs. Martin's paper on "The Wants of our Elementary 

* See " Advancement of Learning,|)assm. 



22 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

Schools," which certainly never will be supplied until the 
education of normal schools includes literary T?.ulture. In 
examining candidates for kindergarten teachers, we have 
often been much disappointed in their graduates, in 
regard to their general culture. The normal schools oftener 
educate adequate professors of mathematics and other special 
branches of knowledge, than artists of life^ social and religi- 
ous, as well as intellectual. But this breadth of education is 
the great desideratum in those who are to serve at the foun- 
tain head of integral education — the Kindergarten. 

We received from our visit to the two conventions, a satis- 
factory impression of the growing interest and understanding 
with respect to the reform of which the Kindergarten is the 
seed. We heard with surprise, that in the convention of the 
German-American teachers, which was held in Detroit, simul- 
taneously with that of the National Association, Dr. Douai 
said, " nothing yet had been accomplished in Boston." He 
is not aware that Mrs. Kriege had given diplomas, since she 
began her training school in 1868, to thirty-three ladies, most 
of whom are at work ; and that Miss Garland in the last two 
years had graduated twenty, all of whom are enthusiastically 
at work. 

The initiation of Kindergarten everywhere costs money; 
but once i^roved to the public to be the blessing which its 
friends claim that it is, public school money and charity 
educational funds will be appropriated to train teachers and 
found Kindergartens. 

The religious question, or rather the question of the Bible 
in schools, will not essay to divide the public money, in the 
case of public Kindergartens, since no hooks at all are used, 
and because there is no denominational difference possible to 
the religion of childhood, which must consist purely of love 
of man and trust in God. And for this reason, too, every 
church ought to give the rent of one of its rooms (it is com- 
mon now to have church parlors as well as vestries), to in- 
duce some one to risk opening a Kindergarten for the child- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 23 

ren of the neighborhood, without respect to the denomination 
of teacher or taught. Some churches have already done 
this, in a high sense of the use they ought to be to the com- 
munity in the midst of which they are. 

In St. Louis, the Kindergarten is being introduced into the 
public system in the right way, precisely because the first 
Kindergarten, and the training class which is founded upon 
it, was begun not by an official, but by an amateur. A young 
lady, gifted by nature and fortune, the daughter of a United 
States Senator, paid % 300 to Miss Haines for the privilege 
of going into the Kindergarten, then kept by Miss Boelte, 
and receiving lessons from her on the theory and in the pro- 
cesses of Froebel. She was Miss Boelte's sole pupil in 
training for the year 1873-4. In the fall of 1873, with the 
sympathy of the superintendent, W. T. Harris, she impro- 
vised a Kindergarten at the Normal School of Carondelet, 
St. Louis, and spared no expense, as well as gave herself^ body 
and soul, to the work. Of course she had success, and has 
made it only a question of time to have the Kindergarten as 
the preliminary step of the public education of St. Louis, if 
not of the whole state of Missouri. This year she will keep 
up her Kindergarten, and have a class to train for kindergar- 
teners ; for there can be no Kindergartens, any where, without 
these, however importunate may be the demand. 

We are glad to record such a noble work as this. But who- 
ever should see Miss Blow in communication with Mrs. Kraus- 
Boelte, would see that however generous and public-spirited 
a deed it was, to qualify herself as a kindergartener, it was no 
self-denial. Of the many gifted young women of fortune in 
America, who desire to cultivate themselves for an aim, I 
cannot but hope that some may imitate Miss Blow's example, 
and make themselves benefactors of their respective states. 
Great reforms must " make haste, slowly." The greatest ob- 
stacle to the true growth of Kindergartens is premature 
attempts of immature kindergarteners. Yet the training 
schools, being as yet all unendowed, cannot offer gratuitous 



24 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

instruction; and young persons admirably gifted, without 
certain prospects of immediately remunerative work, are often 
prevented entering them by want of means. In some in- 
stances funds have been put in trust with the editor of the 
Messenger to enable such individuals to take the training. 
This is one way for friends of the cause to aid it. When 
the editor first conceived the idea of this propaganda^ she 
had the prospect of a large fund for this purpose, and also to 
give the trained kindergarteners assistance to make experi- 
ments of Kindergartens in places where only a few persons 
are enlightened enough to give sufficiently generous pay, but 
where, if once fairly established, they would draw patronage 
from parents who will be more than willing to pay, as soon 
as they are sure of the value of the thing. 

When an unexpected illness and death prevented us from 
realizing the promised funds, our hope was, that the training 
schools would be supported, at first, by just such persons as 
Miss Blow, who would pay for their own instruction so liber- 
ally, that the teachers of the training schools could afford to 
take those of smaller means for less pay, provided they had 
superior gifts. 

We are now quite well off for training schools. Miss Blow 
and Mrs. Ogden in the West ; Miss Garland in Boston ; Mrs. 
Kriege in New York, who has just returned from a refreshing 
vacation of two years in Eui'ope, and is engaged by Miss 
Haines, to take the training class, while her daughter keeps 
the Kindergarten, of the Gramercy Park School. 

Finally, there is the training school of Mrs. Kraus-Boelte, 
who has the advantage of all the others in having been many 
years longer in the work, after three years of preliminary study 
with Mrs. Froebel. She has this year removed to No. 26 
East 50th Street (D'Aert's Institute). 

We subjoin a letter Mrs. Kraus-Boelte has recently received 
from her venerable friend and instructor, Madame Froebel, 
which is interesting for what it incidentally says of Kindergar- 
ten in Germany. [Postponed for want of room. — Pb.] 



VOL.11. NOYEMBER, 1874. No. n. 



A PERIODICAL OF 24 PAGES. 



^|tn(lerpi[ten W^Bsenfl^r, 



E^ 



EDITED BY 



IZABETH P. PEABODY. 



TERMS ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR, IN ADVANCE, 

Payable to tlie Editor, 19 FoUen Street, Cambridge, Mass. 

Subscribers for 1874 can have the numbers for 1873 at half price — 
fifty cents— as long as the edition holds out. These numbers contain 
important matter that wUl not be repeated. 

TERMS OF ADVERTISEMENT. 

25 cents a line for short advertisements. 

15 cents a line for advertisements of 12 lines. 

Yearly advertisements . as by agreement. 

Advertisements for the inside of the covers are solicited, especially 
from publishers, m^j&ufacturers of Kindergarten materials, and teachers 
of any branches of Knowledge. 

i^^ - ■ .-M 



MRS. KRAUS'BOELTE 

Will make lior own an-aiigements for pupils in the Kiuclergarteii, 
Training Class, &c., at 2G East 50tli Street, New York. 

MRS. THOMAS J. MAQUIRE 

Will open a Kindergarten in St. Louis College, Nos. 228, 230 & 232 
West 42cl Street, New York, on September 23. 

MISS GARLAND k MISS WE2T0S 

Will open their Kindergarten and Advanced Class, on Thursday, 
October 1, 1874, at 98 Chestnut Street, Boston, where applications 
can be made after September 28, daily, between 1 and 3 o'clock. 

The NoKMAL Class will be opened November 1. A thorough 
English education, good general culture, and ability to sing, are 
requisite for admission. 

Summer address, Miss Maky Gaulaxd, Bristol. 



and Preparatorj 



Will open for both sexes, in September, in the new school-house on Boylston 
Slreet, near Dartmouth. The Kindergarten will be limited to fourteen puj/ils. In 
the Pi-eparatorj', part of every session will be devoted to French conversation. 
Jioth rooms will have the sun all day, and will be warmed in part by open fires. 

For applications, catalogues, etc., see advertisements of the Upper Department 
in the daily papers. CUSHINGS & LADD. 

MISS MARIj3.NNj1 GAYj 

A graduate of Miss Garland's class of 1873-4, opened a Kinder- 
garten at 5090 Germantowu, Pa , September 21. 

MRS. ALMA W. LONGFELLOW, 

A Kindergartener trained in Mrs. Krikge's class of 1870-71, has 
resumed the Kindergarten at 158 Remsem Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

MRS. VAN KIRKE 

Has opened her Kindergarten, 1333 Pine Street, Philadelphia, in 
charge of Miss Helen E.'Hawkins, a graduate of the Boston Train- 
ing School, class of 1873-4. 



The MISSES PURLEY, 

70 I Street, Washington, D. C, have engaged a graduate of the 
Boston Training School for 1873-4, to teach a Kindergarten in 
connection with their school. 



MISS ELIZA O. TVILLIAMSj 

Graduate of Boston Training Class of 1873-4, has opened a Kinder- 
garten at 190 Eutaw Street, Baltimore, Md. 






Vol. II.— NOVEMBER, 18T4. — No. 11. 



IMPORTANT NOTICE TO SUBSOEIBEES. 

The time has come when I must decide whether or not 
to carry on the Khstdergakten Messenger another year. 

I have, on my books, subscriptions enough to pay the 
expenses of publication (without counting in advertisements, 
or agency commissions, or such gratuitous distribution as 
most periodical publishers find it profitable to use). And if 
all my subscribers would remember to pay, I should have no 
question about going on, though it should continue to give 
me nothing for my editorial labor but the satisfaction of ex- 
pressing myself on a subject which I consider of such vast 
moment to my country and the human race. But more than 
two hundred subscribers are delinquent, in this tenth month ; 
and if they do not pay without farther delay, I shall not 
be able to arrange with my long-sufiering printer for another 
year. 

Though the rule printed on my covers is advance pay^ I 
have not been able, in one month since April, to be on time 
with the promised cash payment. I will put, with my pen, 
an interrogation point at the end of this article, on the copies 
sent to those subscribers whose payment is not credited on 
my books. If, in any instance, I make a mistake, I trust my 
subscriber may tell me so, and forgive my inadvertence; for 
occasionally, though very rarely, the post ofiice has failed. 

At all events, I must ask all the subscribers now, whether 
they have paid or not, to let me know by December whether 



2 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

they will subscribe for 1875, and pay me within the first three 
months of the year. Generous friends came to my rescue 
from bankruptcy, caused by a like delinquency, last year; 
but I cannot depend on that, as a rule. 

If I go on, new subscribers for 1875 must pay % 1.00 for 
the year, and twelve cents to prepay the postage, which is now 
. necessary within the United States. English subscribers pay 
their postage by paying five shillings English money. 

Those who wish back numbers must add % 1.00 for 1874, 
and 50 cents for 1873, beginning in June. I have still some 
hundred sets complete from June, 1873. 



In 1874, I began to publish a translation of Froebel's 
Menschen-Mrziehung from the French of the Baroness Crom- 
brugghe, but desisted, because I learned that the theological 
prepossessions of the translator had made a free rendering of 
some parts, which falsified the original; a thing for which 
she has subsequently expressed her own regret. 

It was another reason for stopping, that, as this work was 
composed at the beginning of Froebel's career, and published 
as long ago as 1827, it relegated a good deal of what he sub- 
sequently made kindergarten work to the nursery of the 
mother. It was not till 1840 that he invented the Kinder- 
garten.^ as a sort of bridge between the nursery and the 
school, in which the developing process, on the mother's 
cherishing method, should lead the first observations on nature, 
and bring the child forward to the point where it would be 
comparatively safe to " throw him on the rocks " of antag- 
onism, as Mr. Emerson rather stoically suggests in one of his 
lectures, is necessary for the full education of "the un grown 
giant " — of the American nationality. 

Experience and observation had taught Froebel that moth- 
ers had not time to give that minute attention to the first 
development of the understanding; he saw that nature indi- 
cated the limit of her responsibility, by multiplying her cares, 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 3 

SO that one child should occupy her incessantly not more than 
during the first two or three years, which, if faithfully im- 
proved by her, would enable her to develop the foundations 
of religion and love of relatives, and put the child into com- 
munication with others by means of speech ; so that mutual 
understanding shall grow together with self-consciousness and 
balance it. 

To these foundations of religious and moral education, laid 
by the mother, the kindergartener is.to add the foundations 
of a sound intellectual and artistic education. But this is 
a very delicate process ; for here there are two ways to be 
chosen between, one of which past experience has shown to 
be as deleterious as it is common, it being to impose on the 
child the past opinions of his elders concerning nature, 
instead of presenting nature objectively, in an orderly man- 
ner, and giving him opportunity to get impressions for himself, 
and recognize laws fresh from God, whose speech nature is, 
and whose will are nature's laws. 

Froebel lived twelve years after he had elaborated the Kin- 
dergarten ; during which time, instead of writing books, he 
educated kindergarteners, and established Kindergartens. 
Like Socrates, and a greater than Socrates, he taught by living 
speech and worh^ instead of by written .thought, and, like 
them, he was fortunate in disciples who could write. Among 
these, none is greater than the Baroness Bertha von Maren- 
holtz-Bulow, whose work on the Relations of Education and 
Labor, Mrs. Horace Mann is translating ; and from which we 
shall continue to publish a portion every month, until some 
publisher sees it to be for his interest to publish it in a 
volume. 

This work is the resume of a course of lectures which the 
Baroness gave to select audiences in Germany, Belgium, and 
France, in the years 1858-9, and which called out responsive 
sympathy from the best minds of the day, some of which is 
published in our numbers for July and August, 1873. 

At the present moment, when the v subject of industrial, 



4 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

technical, and art education begins to engage the serious 
attention of Americans of practical ability and wisdom, this 
book, which shows the Kindergarten to be the only adequate 
foundation for a complete education of man, in religion, morals, 
science, and art — should be widely diffused. 



EDUCATION BY LABOE. * 

ACCORDING TO TROEBEL'S METHOD. 

Translated from the Baroness von Marenholtz-Bulow, by M. M. 

The materials used consist of wooden blocks, planes, and 
little sticks ; strips of different colored papers ; pasteboard ; 
colored threads; slates and pencils; and sheets of paper. 
The transforming of the materials begins in imitation ; then 
invention begins, by combining parts into a whole, according 
to one's own fancy. But to invent, — bring forth something 
new with these materials, a child must have a guiding thread. 
Every work of man consists of parts arranged for the purpose 
of the whole. This arrangement demands symmetry and 
harmony in the parts, and requires that they be fitted for 
each' other. Whether it be the building of a house, the glu- 
ing together of a table or chair, the making of a garment, 
there are always parts to be fitted together, not ai-bitrarily 
or capriciously, but according to definite rules. Hence it is 
the principle of Froebel's method to give the child a funda- 
mental rule, according to which he may unfailingly find new 
combinations. 

What the child grasps most easily are contrasts. He seizes 
easily the difference of size when great and small things stand 
side by side; readily discriminates colors ; sees position, as 
above and below, vertical and horizontal. Froebel's i-ule, 
" make the opposite to the thing given," a child of three years 
old applies with ease. For example, he places his figures 
■upon a table which is ruled netwise with horizontal and per- 

* Copyright secured according to law. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 5 

pendicular lines. The teacher marks for him the middle of 
the table by one of his little inch planes ; the child places 
a plane four squares above this marked square, and the rule 
tells him to place another plane four squares below it. Above 
and below are to be connected with each other by the sides, 
that is, the left and right, therefore he places two other planes 
four squares off, one to the right, the other to the left of the 
middle one ; or, if the figure to be made is a compact one, 
the opposites may be arranged to touch by their edges. In 
drawing, the vertical and horizontal lines are contrasts in 
position, and oblique lines form the connection. 

It is quite impossible to indicate, except by ocular demon- 
stration, how inexhaustible are the combinations of forms, 
through the application of this simple rule. What the alpha- 
bet is for word-making, by combining twenty-four letters 
indefinately, or what the seven tones of the scale are for har- 
mony, Froebel's law of " The connection of opposites " is for 
plastic formation. 

Pestalozzi also strove for this A, B, C of power (Jcoennen)^ 
but confessed it was yet to be discovered. Froebel's discovery 
gives a key to every artistic work, and therefore may be properly 
said to be the foundation of a training for work. 

The arrangement of parts into a whole is organizing, 
which every creative work demands, whether it be material 
or intellectual. But this law — the connection of opposites — 
hitherto considered only in philosophy, is as truly the combi- 
nation-law of nature as it is of the human mind. 

All the processes of nature move in opj)osites, inspiration 
and expiration, contraction and expansion, ascending and 
descending — all are connections of opposites. In like man- 
ner the process of thinking is to compare things more or less 
opposite, and connect them by inferences (logic). Pestalozzi 
declared that the mechanism of things follows the same course 
as the mechanism of thought, and vice versa. The child 
operates in one or both, according to the law of his own 
individuality. What he applies (himself) he learns to under- 



6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

stand and comprehend, first by contemplation only, as im- 
pression ; but by degrees he becomes conscious of what he 
does, and that is the main point. Also, for the working man 
of the present day, he must become conscious of the how 
and the why of his doing^ not by reflection, but by immediate 
experience. This distinction must be made. At present, the 
.reflections of the grown-up are given to children much too 
early. According to Froebel's principle, which pursues the 
empirical way, the first knowledge of the child will come 
out of his own experience, and he learns to make his gen- 
eralizations himself, and to reflect upon things in his own 
way. Only when a strictly individual apprehension of a 
thing is gained, can the precepts given by others later be 
really appropriated, and become flesh and blood. A real 
conviction, which is proof of a stable frame of mind, has its 
roots in the first individual experience (of action). 

This is the kernel of FroebeVs method; that a way has 
been found to let the ifidividual character of each one unfold 
itself in full freedom. Froebel says : " Let each one be a 
free growth out of himself; let him rise out of himself like 
the stalk from the plant, with ear, flower, and seeds, in the 
great might of life." When shall we cease to fetter, enslave* 
or, at least, stamp humanity, nations, and individuals? — not 
before Kindergartens shall be the universal possession of the 
people ! 

This is the point which has been least recognized hitherto. 
The given rule makes many a one think that Froebel's method 
is a treatment hy stencils, as it were ! But for the very rea- 
son that Froebel gives a universal law for the guide of his 
methods, an individual act of the child becomes possible; 
that is, a creative act. For instance, just as nature, according 
to the law of expansion and contraction that rules in the vege- 
table world, develops the difierent species of plants ; so can 
a child produce ever new forms and combinations, by acting 
according to the law given to him ; namely, ' the connection of 
opposites.' Every child will apply this law of combination, 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 7 

in order to represent his individual formations in the freest 
manner. Without this process of law, he would stop short 
at mere imitation, or owe his formations only to chance. One 
can be convinced in a genuine Kindergarten, that every child 
produces, out of the same material, by the application of the 
same law, manifold things, each differing from the others. 
And does not every painter paint different pictures, with the 
same colors, according to the same law of mixing colors, and 
of constructing forms ? 

If it be acknowledged that there is no freedom without 
law, neither in the community, nor in the different workshops 
of handicraft and studios of art ; the same thing must hold 
good, also, for the doing of the child, whose imagination 
sweeps round rudderless, if it is not hound or fettered by 
rules lohich are principles. 

Through the indispensable concentration, which all produc- 
tive labor requires, a certain stability and inward collectiveness 
arises, which not only rules the imagination, but reacts par- 
ticularly to strengthen the moral powers. Out of this arises 
the inward satisfaction of true activity ; and in this satisfac- 
tion, given to children by Froebel's method, is found the most 
striking proof that it corresponds to the nature of the child. 

And just as the individual endowment of the child is man- 
ifested by plastic production, peculiarity of character comes 
out by the action of children in companionship. By their 
'occupations' the talent of the future designer, painter, sculp- 
tor, architect, poet, musician, or mathematician, expresses itself. 
By social work and play in a child-world, which must be the 
type of the great world, with the friction of character conse- 
quent upon this intercourse, the opportunity is offered for 
peculiar traits of character to be brought out, and influenced 
by one another. One must not estimate too slightly, for the 
future formation of character, these things, as yet so small in 
themselves. To learn early how to express his mind in some 
characteristic form, how to maintain his individual claims and 
opinions against his equals, and how to take an active jiart 



8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER, 

in fitting himself into the midst of a community which has 
equality of rights and duties, is unquestionably of great im- 
portance for the culture of individual character. Home and 
school cannot offer sufficient opportunity on this account, 
because in the home the young child cannot have equal rights 
w^ith all the other inmates, mostly grown people, being in a 
more passive and subordinate position towards them, seldom 
taking the initiative; and because, in the school, a merely 
Intel] ectual willing and doing takes place, which sets in action 
the intellectual much more than the moral powers. It is true 
that in the school recess there is free action ; but then it is 
not regulated. In the Kindergarten, on the other hand, free 
action is connected with regulated action, by the distribution 
of the occupations following the rules of work, &c., as happens 
also in later life. 

In Kindergarten, the child is not made tame, which is what 
the education of the majority of children amounts to at pres- 
ent ; the natural energy is not repressed, but led towards its 
normal aim and destiny. Our childhood and youth sicken, 
unquestionably, by the early preponderance of the intellectual 
powers; and thi'ough the want of opportunity for creative 
activity, which begets will and energy. Who has not felt 
that our children lead a quite artificial life, contrary to their 
nature, by which both bodily and moral health is under- 
mined ? There is too early and too much learning, that is, 
too much for their digestive power, an undue preponderance 
of receptivity, deficient productivity, and a want of opportu- 
nity to act, — all of which cuts off the possibility of the full, 
fresh, natural existence which is meet for childhood and 
youth. 

"There should be a change," says the majority of observers; 
but as yet we have not known how to make it. The amount 
of knowledge which must be acquired for the required culture 
and vocation, at some time, can neither be abridged nor dis- 
pensed with. To go back to the beginning of the accumulated 
material of human knowledge, in order to simplify it, it has 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 9 

been found necessary to seek for the elements of individual 
departments, in order to separate all that is superfluous. And 
Froebel, in order to find the points of connection, with which 
the activity of children must begin, went back to the very 
origin, the first beginnings of our culture. 

The child gains knowledge of things, first by his activity, 
through what it can seize with his hands. Things must be 
graspable by him, to give him points of connection for his 
conceptions. If, for example, a child should only look at the 
things around him, it would be impossible for him to be con- 
vinced of their material, their weight, whether they were 
hard or soft. This perpetual handling of things, this analyz- 
ing and combining again of the parts, which Froebel's method 
demands, is the child's first work^ and involves intellectual as 
well as bodily activity ; and, because this knowledge of things, 
by means of the activity of his limbs and senses, is founded 
in the being of the child, as it was in the being of humanity, 
it afibrds lasting enjoyment. By this first enjoyment of doing^ 
the only right beginning is gained, for the conquest of natural 
indolence, for lifting the weight of yet unspiritualized 
matter. 

In the human soul, all opposites are found united. If this 
or that impulse is not used and cultivated for good, conform- 
ably to Us destiny^ it serves for evil, which is deviation from 
the destiny assigned by God and nature. If the instinct of 
activity is not awakened, gratified, the instinct of indolence 
takes its place, that heaviest barrier to all development ! 

The earliest work of the child begins, as in the development 
of the human race itself, with cultivating the instruments of 
work, training the limbs and senses. Little objects of his own 
invention, by their symmetry of form, harmony of color, 
agreement of parts in a whole, awaken his first pleasure in 
conforming to laws, and thus lure forth from the infant soul 
the first beams of the beautiful ; so that, as in the history of 
the human race, the elements of art become the awakeners 
of the mind. 



lO KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

The thought that lies at the foundation of Froebel's method 
of allowing the child, in each of the occupations, to separate 
the parts, and put them together again as a whole, is that 
real things may become symbols, by means of which he shall 
perceive reality. 

Already Rousseau had demanded that the first book for the 
child's mind should be his surroundings. If this is to be so, 
then must these surroundings correspond to the needs of the 
mind, and therefore be put in order. He did it, by giving 
to the child forms, out of which he is to create, by uniting 
and transforming them himself. The results of his composing 
become symbols of truth. Contemplation and individual 
production are thus united; the artistic leads to knowing. 
Schiller, speaking of the development of the human race, 
says, " What we have felt here as beauty, will one day, and 
somewhere, meet us as truthr 

With the blind activity of instinct, as yet unconscious^ 
human culture began, and rose gradually from the crudest to 
the highest point. Images and symbols of the beautiful, the 
good, and the true, are needed by children ; just as the Greeks 
and Romans, in order to perceive the ideas symbolized by 
the powers of nature, needed the mythology for their imagina- 
tion. While the child is creating forms, he perceives their 
organism ; and so can, at a later stage, seize the fundamental 
thoughts which produced them. He learns, in short, to per- 
ceive the Creator in his creation. 

For easy review of the historical epochs, children in the 
schools are given images, which represent the chief person- 
ages and events. But images alone do not deeply interest early 
childhood. Little children easily forget what they see, and 
more easily still what is said to them; but they never forget 
what they have m,ade (as also Rousseau incidentally remarked). 
Mankind was obliged to go through a long school of labor, 
before it arrived at the present degree of the development of 
industry and art. Men were obliged to labor in the sweat 
of their brows; subduing the rude masses by slave-work on 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. II 

the pyramids of Egypt, where the b.uilding master and archi- 
tect were the same man, even to the 'highest art in the temples 
of Greece, in which the majority of the workmen were artists. 
The development of the human race has had its course, ac- 
cording to law and the rules of logic, however much it has 
been interrupted by a thousand deviations. And, by law and 
successive steps, the individual child is developed. The 
human educator can do nothing better than to search out the 
plan of education, according to which the spirit of the uni- 
verse guides the development of humanity. 

Froebel has taken the development of nature and humanity 
for his instructor. His starting point is, Man, the image 
OF God, is, as such, a orbativb being ; consequently 

THE FIRST PRINCIPLE OF EDUCATION IS TO MAKE HIM CAP- 
ABLE OF CREATIVENESS, ABLE TO CREATE. 

In the history of man, work has been the first means of 
knowledge ; at present science has become the means for 
work. 

And so for children, first work, and then knowledge, is the 
order of development. Work is the teacher that forms the 
mind; science gives the theory of labor. In this manner, the 
curse of work is changed into a blessing. Voluntary labor, 
developing love of labor, gives the laborer his freedom, and 
is the foundation of his human dignity. 

At a time when the conditions of labor in the civilized 
world have become new, when the conscious mind must 
govern in every workman, when the spiritual emancipation 
of a still immature stratum of society, partly deprived of its 
rights, is declared, ought it not to belong to the Creator's 
government of the world, that the discovery should be made 
that the child can become a consciously-acting workman, 
while he %\i\\ plays? Every discovery in the history of civil- 
ization occurs Avhen mankind needs it. But many a discovery 
remains unrecognized, after its application has become a 
pressing necessity, to the injury of the general develop- 
ment. May not this be the case with the method of Froebel? 



12 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

Side by side with the brilliant culture of our day, its mag- 
nificent, dazzlingly rapid progress of development in the 
department of industry, who does not see the deep shadow 
which is daily becoming deeper? What kind of society must 
necessarily grow out of the youthful generation, if the greed of 
gold, the spirit of gain, and the low pursuit of pleasure, which 
threaten every day, more and more, to destroy all higher aims 
of life, shall grow up with it, and spread faster and farther? 

When the mass of upstarts that will rise out of the uncul- 
tivated, through mere industrial success, is doubled, and shall 
at last become a hundred-fold ; and the largest part of the 
laborers in the spiritual domain shall sink to the ranks of 
the proletariat, because the worth of their performances is 
not acknowledged, while those who have material interests 
and pleasures, reach the highest estimation ; who can picture 
to himself the unheard of demoralization that such a society 
would present ? 

There is but one rein that will hold in check the lower pro- 
pensities of the spiritually undeveloped and rude — it is labor, 
the bodily burden and exertion. Labor, " in the sweat of 
the brow" is the redeemer. Not any thing so demoralizing 
could have crept into the prisons, as the do-nothing of crim- 
inals ! Either heavy, hard labor must be the accompaniment 
of poverty, or civilizing culture must preserve the masses of 
the people from excess and demoralization. And since no 
power can px-event thousands of the uncultivated masses 
enriching themselves in this age of machinery, and so with- 
drawing from hard work, we have no choice but to take 
measures for their culture, and free the coming centuries from 
"the old guilt of the cultivated towards the uncultivated! 

Manifold and various as the conditions may be, whose ful- 
filment is required, in order to conquer poverty, ignorance, 
and want of morality, so far as is possible, the first condition 
will always be correct, sound education, by which the human 
soul shall be dii-ected,from the very beginning of life, to what is 
noble and lofty. Much as our higher schools, and the instruc- 



KikDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 3 

tion of the different people's unions contribute to the acqui- 
sition of useful knowledge, a neglected childhood is never 
got over ; and therefore, to the souls that creep in the dust, 
are never opened the higher regions of spiritual life. 

Let people's Kindergartens, on Froebel's methods, be made 
the common possession, and we shall have laid a firm foun- 
dation, on which shall be built a true education of the people ; 
and then we can fight against coarseness and restlessness, 
and cherish, on the ground of general material welfare, the 
love of the beautiful ; and the eye be directed to the heights 
of intellectual and moral greatness. Pupils cannot enjoy the 
improved public schools, if they do not enter the primary 
schools better prepared than now. Here the first stejD needs 
to be a new beginning^ which shall give new conditions to 
the school, and lead to new results. The discovery of a begin- 
ning, in conformity to nature, Froebel arrived at, when he 
found a new truth in reference to the perceptive power, and 
the treatment of the human being. 

May his discoveries, which are to serve for the improvement; 
of the MAN, not be esteemed less than those which serve for 
the improvement of material well-being ; and may they find 
their application in working out the development of the grow- 
ing race, with all its rich consequences, as long as time lasts. 



Fairer grows the earth each morning 

To the eyes that watch aright, 
Every vision is a dawning 

Of some marvel come to light, 
Of some unsuspected glory 

Waiting in the old and plain; 
Traveller ne'er told the story 

Of such wonders as remain. 

w. c. G. 



Jean Paul says of music: — "Away — away, — thou speak- 
est to me of things which in all my endless life I have 
found not — and shall not find!" 



14 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 



[The following letter from the widow of Froebel to Mrs. Kraus-Boelte, was 
crowded out of the October number by press of matter.] 

Meiningen, August 1, 1874. 
My Dea.r Marib: 

It is a long time since I heard from you, though I have 
written twice, and I feel I can hardly wait longer. * * * 
I found no rest in Hamburg, after I had relinquished my 
Kindergarten to the Froebel-verein ; and have been to visit 
my relatives at Ltineberg and Ostarde. At Pentecost I 
attended the convention of the Allgemeine JErziehungsverein^ 
held at Brunswick. Mr. Kraus, I presume, has already been 
informed concerning the proceedings there, through his cor- 
respondence with Miss Louise Vorhauer; and I need but 
mention that she showed, at the convention, how much can 
be done in teaching music to children, if, with true under- 
standing, a certain aim is followed. But we have not to direct 
the mind of children to music alone, but to develop the entire 
human being in harmony. I have been very much interested 
in your having carried out this method of musical education 
in your Kindergarten and the intermediate class during this 
last year. I trust implicitly in your doings, and know you 
cannot but be successful in your work, especially as you have 
your husband as a co-worker. 

I have led a wanderer's life during the summer months ; 
and have passed hours of consecration at the grave of my 
husband. With Hantzmann's Life of Froebel in my hands, I 
sat about in many places sacred by remembrances, full of 
gratitude to him to whose doctrines I had listened in those 
places, and for his faithfulness and devotion. The places 
were unchanged, but the living voice I then heard was want- 
ing. The sun was setting beautifully one evening, and I felt 
such a longing to pass away that very moment! But the 
people had ever a grateful woi'd; and remembered with 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 15' 

delight the beautiful time at Marienthal. iVbto, they were 
wishing to have a Kindergarten ; now they knew how much 
had been formerly given to them, that which can be given 
only once, and by unselfish love ! 

Beautiful roses and lilies were blooming on Froebel's grave. 
It is a lovely place. When human life has become as pure and 
clear as these flowers, then education will have made a step 
forwards. Some roses and lilies from Froebel's grave I send 
you for a love token. May they arrive safely, and tell you 
that there I remembered you with tender love. 

Here in Meiningen are two Kindergartens ; in time, one 
of them can become a good one. 

It is a matter of course that I visited the Kindergartens 
every where that I went ; but I am sorry to say that they 
have seldom satisfied me. Many things must be changed, if 
they are to fulfil their mission. 

I am staying with my nephew, who does every thing for 
my comfort; and I am getting quite fresh, in beautiful 
nature. 

Next week I go to Eisenach, and from thence I return to 
Hamburg. I long very much to be active again for the 
Kindergarten, and think to be able to further the cause in 
Hamburg, where I have worked for so many years. How 
are you proceeding in your beautiful work '? I seriously 
think of accepting your invitation, if I can hdp you ; for as 
long as I have strength, my life belongs to the Kindergarten 
cause. 

With sincerest regards to your husband, with whose active 
help and interest in our blessed cause I am deeply impressed, 
I am ever, with affectionate love, 

Your old friend, 

LOUISE FROEBEL. 

N. B. The Musick JBildungsSchule, spoken of in Frau 
Froebel's letter, was founded by Mrs. Caroline Weseneder, 
at Brunswick, in 1862; with which she connected &musick- 
alische Kindergarten. 



1 6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

Since her death, the musical institute has been and is con- 
ducted by hex- gifted pupil, Miss Louise Vorhauer, who has 
sent to Mr. Kraus, from time to time, brief accounts of her 
work in the Musical Kindergarten and intermediate class. 

At his request she sent him the following instruments, 
which Mr. and Mrs. Kraus used, as far as practicable, in their 
Kindergarten and intermediate class, at 7 Gramercy Park; 
namely, a bell tree, a triangle, cymbals, a tambourine, castag- 
nettes, a drum, a trumpet, a cuckoo, a quail, a rural horn, a 
cow-bell-ringiug mill, a nightingale, a cock, etc. As to the 
expedients to be used in the movement plays, representing 
all the difierent trades and occupations, Mr. Kraus thought 
it unnecessary to order them from Brunswick, as. they can be 
procured anywhere. m. k. b. 

Froebel used very few helps of this kind. He thought it 
best to have only such things as the children themselves 
could manufacture. *"See the last page of the Baroness Mar- 
enholtz's remarks in the October Messenger. — Editor. 



From England we have interesting news. The training 
school of Manchester is just completing its first term of two 
years, and is about to graduate some well-educated kinder- 
garteners. But Miss Snell writes that she has just seen a 
circular letter of Professor Wiebe to school directors and 
teachers, in which he proposes to go round and give a three 
months' course of lectures on the system ; and to establish 
kindergarten classes in schools ! This she laments, as it must 
needs spread a superficial kindergartening, which will disgrace 
the principle. She says the friends of the real reform had 
hoped that their training school at Manchester would have 
spread the true views of the subject. It is only necessary to 
have the whole truth known in practical England, to have 
the real thing triumphantly prevail, because, all the more 
remarkably, since it comes from subjective, fanciful Germany, 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 7 

it appeals to the love of objectivity, and the practical English 
genius, with its productive occupations and callisthenic plays. 

It is not, however, entirely fortunate, that the Kindergarten 
is beginning in England in the laboring classes. Miss Snell 
says : " Froebel is little understood in England ; and the 
principle of the Kindergarten is frequently sacrificed to ma- 
terial interests of the schools with which it is connected. 
Reading and writing are taught before the proper time, in 
order to meet the impatience and prejudices of the parents 
(who do not understand that thus the object and value of read- 
ing, for the mind^ is sacrificed). By this abuse, a great harm 
is done, and the free, harmonious development of the children 
prevented. Every compromise of this kind is a great wrong 
towards the founder of the Kindergarten; and cannot be too 
strongly censured. I shall be very thankful if you will send 
me your lecture on the ' Education of the Kindergartener.' 
I send you twenty new subscribers for your Messenger. It 
is just what we require here, for our reformatory work in edu- 
cation. We have no apostles, as yet, with the gift of speech, 
who devote their lives in advocating this glorious cause." 

This was written before Mr. Payne gave the lecture to the 
College of Preceptors, upon " Froebel and the Kindergarten," 
from which we made an extract in our Messenger for July. 
When so eminent an educator has taken up the cause, it is 
to be hoped that a general attention may be awakened. 
There is one private Kindergarten, which has been taught 
two years, in the aristocratic precinct of St. George's Square, 
Pimlico. This probably is not starved out of its fair propor- 
tions, as the English Kindergartens have hitherto been, by 
want of pecuniaiy means to provide ail desirable conditions, 
above all, a kindergartener combining fine mental and moral 
gifts with adequate general culture. 

One really good kindergartener, in a refined and apprecia- 
tive circle of families, will do more than volumes of written 
argument, to make ladies take up this art of developing in- 
fancy for their profession, as many of them do the arts of 



1 8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

music, painting, and modelling in clay. The material is even 
more etherial than that of music, being living spirit, to work 
on which, instead of exhausting, will renew it ! * 

We have just received a circular of the School Board of 
London, which confirms us in our feeling that it is something 
of a misfortune to the cause of Kindergarten, that it should 
begin in the schools that are — not like the public schools of 
this country, intended for all classes, and so securing the 
liberal support of the better classes, who also send to them, 
but really pauper schools, as it were. We copy the docu- 
ment. It is dated, 

"New Bedford Street, E. C, 24 Jan., 1874. 

"Dear Sir: — You are of course aware that instruction 
in kindergarten, exercises forms an essential part of the 
instruction in infant schools. The Board attribute great 
importance to thorough and systematic teaching on this sys- 
tem, and they have accordingly appointed Miss Bishop a 
special instructor for their schools. 

* It may sound paradoxical to speak of spirit as material for the artist, but a 
vice of the English language has made material synonymous both with objective 
and substantial ; and the vice of the language was consequent upon the lapse in 
spiritual philosophy, when Locke denied the transcendental objective, under the 
name of innate ideas, thus making all our consciousness, except the impressions 
on the sensorium, the product of reflection, and therefore transient and finite, as 
the French atheists found out. But Locke was a careless analyzer, and not a ma- 
terialist of the Condillac School, as he has left us proof in his " Reasonableness of 
Christianity," which does better justice to the man Locke, than the "Essay on the 
Human Understanding." Locke would have learnt, had he studied his metaphy- 
sics in the living pages of the Kindergarten, that children first practically realize, 
and then name eternal laws, and by implication, at least, the Eternal Lawgiver, as 
they find symmetries growing under their hands in their fanciful occupations. 
They know that they never find any satisfaction in what they do withont a plan or 
principle of combination. As they see uniform square pieces of paper transformed 
by themselves into a hundred beautiful forms, they realize that besides the factors 
of paper and hands, there is another factor, whom they summon to their aid, from 
which flows infinite variety of beauty. A child developed in a Kindergarten, ac- 
cording to Froebel's genial method, will hardly be a materialist. Matter, named 
from the German matt, dead, expresses that spirit has been, but gone, leaving this 
witness of substantial life. Is it not rather arbitrary in Mr. Tyndall, to declare 
matter to be alive ? and even creative ? What if we should accept the Hegelian 
definition, which is also that of St. John, who declares it to be the word of the Lord, 
who addresses his intelligent creature from the beginning, first by making the 
worlds, and then at last becoming man, whose life is in intercommunion ? 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 9 

" As Miss Bishop can only find time to instruct the chil- 
dren of one single school thoroughly, it has been resolved 
that the school to be taken in hand, in the first instance, 
shoiild be the Wilmot School, Bethnal Green (permanent 
school). 

"But it has been also arranged that Miss Bishop should 
take five classes a week, in difierent parts of London, for the 
benefit of female pupil teachers and mistresses both of infants' 
and girls' schools. Mistresses would have the opportunity of 
attending, and of watching the course of instruction. 

"The five centres will be at York Road, King's Cross, 
Tuesdays, from 6 to 7 p. m. ; Wilmot Street, Bethnal Green, 
Wednesdays, at the same hour; Wistinley Road, Clapham 
Junction, Fridays, 6 to 7 p. m. ; on Saturdays; at Clifton Road, 
New Cross, from 2 to 3 p. m. ; at Harper Street, New Road, 
from 4 to 5. A copy of this circular is sent to all pupil teach- 
ers and mistresses, who will communicate with Miss Bishop ; 
and I am directed to ask them to inform her, within the next 
three days, which one of the five centres they propose to 
attend." * * * . * * G. H. Croad, Olerk of the Boards 

We wish our American School Boards, with their ampler 
means, did, like this London Board, " Attribute great import- 
ance to thorough and systematic teaching on this system." 
But it is very obvious that the London Board have an entirely 
inadequate idea of a Kindergarten according to Froebel, if 
they imagine that anything like a training to teach in them, 
can be given in lessons once a week to pupil teachers and 
mistresses who are engaged all the first part of the day in 
teaching what of course is not the Froebel occupations, &c., 
since to begin on these requires to have been trained before- 
hand, not merely in the knack of the fingers, but in such 
knowledge of the laws of mind and principles of moral power, 
as Miss Bishop, if .she were an archangel in intellect, could 
not impart to five classes I even if she were not exhausted 
by teaching her own Kindergarten in the mornings. We 
wish we could have a letter from Miss Bishop, telling us a 



20 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

little about what she attempts to do, and what this kinder- 
gartening in the London Board Schools amounts to. We 
think that if anything is to be done deserving the name, 
there should be established in London a ti'aining school, as 
well appointed as that of Manchester (why not at the South 
Kensington Museum, or at the Crystal Palace ?), and an 
experienced kindergartener be made its head teacher, keeping 
a well appointed Kindergarten, and requiring normal pupils 
already well educated otherwise, to give all their time to the 
study, for at least a year, not confining themselves to the 
Froebel occupations and plays — though they should have 
the former at their fingers' ends, and be able to sing, and 
themselves play in the games, — but going through a course 
of real study of such books as Alison on "Taste," Lord 
Bacon's "Advancement of Learning," the late Professor 
Maurice's "Social Morality," Taylor's "Home Education," 
and, of course, if they can read German, the Baroness 
Marenholtz-Bulow's " Education by Labor," and Froebel's 
" Menschen ErziehungP We wish the Kindergarten Associ- 
ation of Manchester would induce some Euglish publisher to 
reprint the translation of Madame Marenholtz's book, that 
we are printing in our Kindergarten Messenger, chapter 
by chapter. Mr. Payne's lecture on " Froebel and the Kin- 
dergarten," is also a good thing to be studied in a training 
school; and we recommend to Miss Bishop to make it one 
text book in her classes. If the Circular of information, pub- 
lished by our Commissioner of National Education, for July, 
1872, could be reprinted in England, it could be used as 
another text book in her classes, for which such a curriculum, 
as is proposed above for the training school, would be impos- 
sible, the "pupil teachers and mistresses" being probably 
quite unprepared for such studies. The circular contains a 
translation of a pamphlet which the Baroness wrote in French, 
and published in Florence in 1872, after having passed a 
winter there, lecturing to a class of teachers for the Kinder- 
gartens in Italy, which had been founded by the Minister of 



KINDERGARTEKT MESSENGER. 21 

Instruction, in the faith that they would create the teachers ; 
but he found it needed ab-eady accomplished teachers to cre- 
ate Kindergartens. This pamphlet was an abridgement of 
the lectures given during a whole winter; and of which she 
wanted the pupils to have a reminder; for it suggests the 
whole scope of the teaching. This pamphlet and Mr. Payne's 
lecture together would not make as much as a hundred 
octavo pages, and should be in the hands of every one 
atteraptijig to keep a Kindergarten. 

Mr. Payne's lecture has been reprinted in America, by 
Steiger, of New York, and is sold for fifteen cents; a price 
so low, that it enables any friends of the cause to buy them 
for distribution. 

If we are able to go on with our Messenger, we hope to 
present in it, continually, themes for discussion in the training 
classes, and for the meditations of kindergarteners. 

Froebel's philosophy is nothing less than a method of in- 
quiry into the nature of man, and his relations to God and 
the universe ; not his passive relations merely, but his creative 
powers, or spirituality. 

We are sorry not to have any data for a report of what 
has been done in Liverpool this last year. But we hope our 
friends there will give us some information for our next 
number. 

In our next number we shall also give the status of the 
American Kindergarten; and we wish that all the kinder- 
garteners who are at work, would write us a letter, and give 
us the facts respecting their own work, with the statistics, as 
well as their ideas. Especially we hope that Mrs. Kraus- 
Boelte will give us her long-promised experience in the 
Kindergarten. We wish she would write us a confidential 
letter, and mark all the parts of it she is willing that we 
should print. 

Our covers will show that Mrs. Ogden has removed her 
training school from Columbus to Chicago. She would not 
have done so had the prospect been good for a full Kinder- 



22 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

garten in Columbus. But as soon as she had engaged to go 
to Chicago, where both Kindergarten and Training school are 
in demand, the parents of the children in Columbus, who 
had sent to her Kindergarten, waked up to see the bright- 
ness of the blessing that was taking wing ; and were desirous 
to pay a honus to retain her ! We have known something 
like this to happen before. A kindergartener was starved out 
in some place ; but as soon as she was established elsewhere, 
the people began to realize their loss, and were eag^r to pay 
another who would come, more than was asked by the supe- 
rior one whom their want of consideration had discouraged ! 
We are glad Mrs. Ogden has gone to Chicago, where are 
several so-called Kindergartens, that disgrace the name, 
though they may be tolerably good judged by the standard 
of the old infant schools. There is one whose teacher pre- 
tends to be a graduate of Miss Garland's school, but who 
was refused a diploma by her, on account of her utter incom- 
petence, intellectual and moral. 

Miss Marwedel has reopened her school in Washington, 
at 800 Eighteenth Street, the house where she kept it last 
year, in K Street, being demolished, and no house in the 
vicinity being available ' for love or money.' 

Her removal causes a loss of many of the little ones, whose 
parents do not find it convenient to send them so far from 
home. The new neighborhood probably will fill up the gap 
in the number, which was more than seventy in the spring 
quai'ter. But Miss Marwedel grieves for the interruption of 
relations that had become an affair of the heart between 
herself and the children. She still retains Miss Pollock, as 
adult playfellow in the Kindergarten, and teacher of the 
manipulations ; herself supervising and inspiring ideas both 
in the young teacher and the children. 

She writes us that she has associated with herself a German 
lady, eminent in the Froebel lore and art, who, she says, 
"studied in the two seminaries in Berlin," and "complains of 



KIJVDERGARTEAr MESSENGER. 23 

the incompleteness of both ; " saying, " that the instruction 
given by different persons, in theory and practice, were con- 
tradictory. While the Baronin Marenholtz' gives the full 
and true theoretical instruction, the practical part is not un- 
derstood, nor in harmony with it." Miss Marwedel adds 
that " Miss Lochner is very learned, and at home in all sci- 
ence; for which, and in which, she admires Froebel as a 
reformer. She has gone deeper into his philosophical views 
than any one I have met, and has her equal only in Baronin 
Marenholtz herself. She has already trained cultivated ladies 
at Berlin ; and she came to this country on purpose to start 
a normal kindergarten class among the Germans here. If 
any one takes the kindergarten system in its broad, general, 
reforming view, it is done by Miss Theresa Lochner." 

With Mias Lochner's assistance, therefore. Miss Marwedel 
feels that she can offer the highest advantages of training to 
any ladies who will give the winter to the acquisition of 
Froebel's art. 

We trust southern ladies will avail themselves of this op- 
portunity, for the advantage to the South, where it is to be 
hoped that the incipient systems of state education may be 
founded on the developing principle which prevails exclu- 
sively in the Kindergarten ; in which children should be kept 
till they are seven years old, and get a sound and healthy 
physical, moral, and industrial start in life, before beginning 
to learn reading, writing, and cyphering. This profession is 
exactly the one for ladies of refinement, who are thrown 
upon themselves, as so many southern ladies now are, to 
make a living for themselves and their children. A training 
school, within easy reach of such, has for many years been 
felt to be a desideratum. There is now one lady in Wash- 
ington from Kentucky, teaching the kindergarten class in 
the school of the Misses Purley, 70 I Street, who had the en 
terprise to go to Boston last year for training, and graduated 
from Miss Garland's class of 1873-4, in May. But in general, 
it cannot be expected that southern ladies will go so far 
north for education, if it were only on account of the expense. 



24 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

That the demand for Kindergarten is becoming great in 
the South, the editor of the Mbsseistgeb knows, from the 
letters she continually receives; but as yet it is rather an in- 
definite demand. Ladies keeping boarding schools frequently 
make applications for assistants, and still more fi-equently for 
books, by aid of which they expect to meet this demand. 
Even in the city of Washington, where there are now three 
real Kindergartens (Mrs. Pollock is about to begin one in 
Droit Park), there are many schools that profess to have a 
kindergarten class, by which apparently nothing more is 
meant than that they have a class under seven years of age, 
who perhaps do not attempt to learn to read and write. But 
a Kindergarten is not merely the negative of a school! I 
have before me the prospectus of one Washington school, in 
which it is stated that its first grade is a kindergarten class; 
and in going on to give the curriculum^ assigns to that depart- 
ment, reading^ writing^ and other things belonging to common 
primary schools ; thus betraying utter ignorance of Froebel's 
institution, as a preparatory development of the faculties, by 
which any intelligent learning of reading can take place later. 
The name is used merely to attract pupils, and reckless of 
any distinctive meaning. Such recklessness hinders those 
who are given to us, all prepared for the kingdom of heaven 
— on earth — from entering into the way, the truth, and the 
life, which is the law of the kingdom. Until it is superseded 
by more conscientiousness in the use of words, there will be 
nothing but repetitions of the fall of man, from original inno- 
cence into the devious, serpentine ways that lead away from 
the tree of life into the paths of false knowledge, because 
prematui-e and indigestible. We must teach them to ti'ust, 
to love, to hope in God, before they begin to know the world 
into which they have come. "Suffer little children to come 
unto me, and forbid them not," is still the unheeded cry of 
the Redeemer. One would think we had had sufficient ex- 
perience of the futility of the old methods ! Who is there 
that does not feel that he himself was marred in his education ; 
that the clue of order was not put into his hands early enough; 
that his vitality was half quenched by unnecessary and con- 
ventional restraints ; that generous trust and hope were de- 
pressed instead of quickened ? 

With training schools kept by real disciples of Froebel at 
Washington, St. Louis, Chicago, Boston, and New York, 
" Heaven's first law " shall prevail. A good beginning has 
been made, and we rest in hope of the lost Paradise regained. 



MISS PEABOnY 

Is open to application for a class in History and its moral siguifl- 
cauce, either in Cambridge or Boston, during the coming winter. 

MISS EMMA MARlVEBELj 

800 Eighteenth Street, Washington, D. C, re-opened her school 
of Industrial Arts, founded on the Kindergarten. September 21, 
with the same successful Kindergartnerin, Mis.s Su.sie Pollock, 
as assistant; and liaving had the g(.od fortune to associate with 
herself Frauleln Thekese Lochner, a philosophicallj^ developed 
and practically experienced Kindergartnerin Irom Berlin, is able to 
offer to American and German ladies of a fair education in other 
respects, the best Kindergarten training. 

At 850 Parker Street, Boston Highlands, is open for eugagements to 
paint portraits in pastille. Two portraits and two fancy pieces 
were exhibited at the Mechanics' Eair in.Faneuil Hall. Her por- 
trait of Miss Peabody may bo seen at the Women's Club parlors, 
3 Tremont Place. 

Mrs. Noa's pictures at the Exhibition of the Roj'al Academy in 
London, were always spoken of by the art critics with great praise. 

EDlVAHn A. SPRING 

Will be in Boston for three months from November 1, to give 
lessons in Elementary Modelling. Terms: — for Teachers, $3 a 
lesson; for othei'S, $5 a lesson. Address, Boston Post Office. 



ROWLAND G, HAZflRB'S PHILOSOPHICAL IRIS, 

ESSAY ON LANGUAGE. 2d edition. With otlier papers, one being on tlie 

Philosophical Genius of Rev. W. E. Channing, D. 1). Publisilied in Boston, 

1857, bv Pliillips, Sampson, & Co. 
FREEDOM OF MIND IN WILLING; or, Every Being who Wills a Creative 

First Cause. New York : Applelon & Co. 186-1. 
TWO LETTERS ON CAUSATION, addressed to John Stuart Mill. With an 

Ai)pendix on the Existence of Matter and our Notions of Iniinite Space. 

Boston : Lee & Sbepard. 1869. 
In 1868 Scribner published two works on practical subjects : " Our Resources," and 

" Finance and the Hours of Labor." 

EJSraLISH SUBSCMIBEIiS 

Can pay by sending post-office money orders directed to Miss Snell, 17 Straw- 
berry Bank, Strawberry Road, Pendleton, in Manchester, England. 
She will also take names of new subscribers. Price, Five Shillings. 

TO SUBSCRIBERS. 

g^^If any have missed numbers hitherto, please make it known ; 
and will all who have not paid for 1874, pay now, with twelve cents 
for postage. 



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The present number of the 



must he the last issue, unless the 
suhseription list he douhled for 

1875. 

I find I have hut 500 sub- 
scribers reliable for payment, which 
does noHtpay my printer- But so 
many of ^ these ^proAest against my 
giving f^p, that I im encouraged to 
say dat ^JLl^ESUME as soon 
as my subscription list jhall have 
grown to (fthousand^names. 

E:^m^BETH mgEABOD Y. 

See JV. B. on page 24- 



MISS PEABOJDY 

Is open to apialication for a class iu Histoid and its moral signifl- 
cance, either iu Cambridge or Boston, during the coming Avinter. 



MRS. THOMAS J. .MAGUIRE 

Will open a Kindergarten in St. Loiiis College, Nos. 228, 230 & 232 
West 42d Street, JS'ew Yorl<, on September 23. 



MISS GARLMD k MISS WESTOH 

Will open their Kindergarten and Advanced Class, on Thursday, 
October 1, 1874, at 98 Chestnut Street, Boston, where applications 
can be made after September 28, daily, between 1 and 3 o'clock. 

The NoKMAL Class will be opened November I. A thorough 
English education, good general culture, and ability to sing, are 
requisite for admission. 

Summer address, Miss Mary Garland, Bristol. 



Tlie Cliamicy Eall KiiidergaFfeo and Preijaratorj 

Will open for both sexes, in September, in the new scliool-house on Boylston 
Screet, near Dartmouth. Tlie Kindergarten will be limited to fourteen pujiils. In 
the Preparatory, jiart of every session will be devoted to Frercli coiiversatioii. 
Both rooms will have the sun all day, and will be warmed in part by open fires. 

For applications, catalogues, etc., see advertisements of the Upper Department 
in the daily papers. CUSHINGS & LADD. 

MISS MJmiANNJl GAYj 

A graduate of Miss Garland's class of 1873-4, opened a Kinder- 
garten at 5090 Germantown, Pa., September 21. 



MRS. ALMA W. LONGFELLOW, 

A Kindergartener trained in Mrs. Khikge's class of 1870-71, has 
resumed the Kindergarten at 158 Kemseni Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



MRS. VjAISF KIRKB 

Has opened her Kindergarten, 1333 Pine Street, Philadelphia, in 
charge of Miss Helen E. Hawkins, a graduate of the Boston Train- 
ing School, class of 1873-4. 



The MISSES PURLEY, 

70 I Street, AA'ashington, D. C, have engaged a graduate of the 
Boston Training School for 1873-4, to teach a Kimlergarten in 
connection with their school. 



MISS ELIZA. O. TVILLIAMSj 

Graduate of Boston Training Class of 1873-4, has opened a Kinder- 
garten at 190 Eutaw Street, Baltimore, Md. 



^indetptten ^mtn^tx. 



Vol. II.— DECEMBER, 1874. — No. 12. 



A SUMMER KINDEHaABTElT IN THE OFEN AIB. 

For some time I have wished that out-door Kindergartens 
might be organized through the summer months, which 
would bring children, into direct contact with nature, and 
open their eyes to the perception of truths that are slowly 
learned from books in after years. 

But it was the report of Miss Gay's work at " Beverly 
Farm," in July, August, and September, that gave me a spur 
to go and do likewise. I did not hear of her summer Kin- 
dergarten till September, but encouraged by the beautiful 
weather, and anned with a rubber blanket, I made an at- 
tempt which I hope will encourage many similar ones. 

Our programme was as follows : 

At half past nine the eight children met at an appointed 
house, and, if the weather was unfavorable, we occupied our- 
selves with kindergarten work indoors. But on pleasant 
days our very merry procession started immediately for the 
neighboring fields or woods, halting at each turn in the way 
to wait for stragglers — a very necessary rule — and chatting 
about the difierent objects along the route. Arrived at our 
destination, the rubber blanket was spread, and the camping 
ground with its resources explored. 

First came the plant lesson. All were summoned to our 
central point, the blanket, where the preceding lesson was 
recalled; then the group scattered to find new specimens 



2 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

with analagous features. These were brought back, exam- 
ined, described by the children, and preserved for future 
comparison. 

Next came a short counting lesson, with acorns, twigs, 
stones, or some objects with analagous characteristics. Some- 
times we would make wreaths with leaves; or still again, 
especially if the day were chilly, have the brisk games for 
exercise. 

Lunch followed, and ball games; then either a lesson on 
insects or a ramble further into the woods. During the ram- 
ble all the children were on the alert to "find something " 
which they could "tell about," this "telling" meaning a 
description, moi'e or less systematic, according to the powers 
of the little narrator. 

The various lessons were thus reviewed again and again, 
as we continually met with various forms of familiar objects. 
Also, new material was suggested for other days, and many 
incidental facts came to our notice which gave an ever- 
changing interest to our mornings. 

Half past twelve by the town clock found us near home 
again, very much the better, both teacher and scholars, for 
the three hours in the open air. 

As has been seen, plants and insects formed our main 
points of attention and inquiry. A few hints about stones, 
a few talks about air, wind, sunshine, clouds, and rain, crept 
in ; but for definite lessons, botany and entomology alone 
were attempted. And only their simplest elements. 

First, a plant was examined, and its essential parts noted. 
Root, stem, and leaves were within the comprehension of all. 
Then each part was taken in turn and compared with anothei*, 
the children observing the difierences and similarities, first 
of the leaves, then of the stems, then of the roots. 

The insect lessons I could not so well systematize; the 
most familiar insects were taken first, but others crowded in 
thick and fast. Gradually, from the many-observed facts, 
came a recognition of the general characteristics of insects, 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 3 

their segmented form, and the stages of transformation : that 
is, the children soon began to expect to find the three dis- 
tinct divisions of an insect's body, as well as its "many 
rings," and to inquire whether, like the buttei-fly, it had once 
been very different. 

The awakening effect of those six weeks was even beyond 
my expectations. The children seemed quickened through 
and through by the beauty and wonders around them. 
More growth was accomplished in this short time than could 
have been stimulated by twelve weeks in my city Kindergar- 
ten. Not only were their powers of observation and their 
perceptive faculties greatly increased, but I especially value 
the moral and social lessons gained in a class of this kind. 

The freedom of the woods brought the children into more 
varied, and at the same time closer relations than occur in 
the school-room. Among themselves there seemed to spring 
up a miniature social organization, with its public sentiment, 
its rules, and its leaders. 

At our commencement they showed themselves a warlike 
little band, bent upon the destruction of lower animal life, 
and filled with dissensions in their own ranks. If a spider 
were seen, stones or little heels were upon him at once. If 
a possible seat were discovered upon a bent tree-trunk, eight 
little voices clamored at once for the first right of way to it. 
But when j;hey had become intimately acquainted with the 
spider, they protected it. " Let it alone," was the cry. " Let 
it just run along to its home ! " And when they saw that a 
mother field mouse let herself be caught rather than desert 
her little ones, the disputes for precedence ceased. "The 
littlest first," was the unanimous decree. 

I can give only a bare outline, with scarcely a hint at the 
possibilities of an established, well-ordered summer Kinder-' 
garten. These possibilities are to be discovered by exper- 
ience alone. n. m. 



4 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

HUSIG IN SmDEEGAETENS. 

We are sorry to go to the press without having received 
Mrs. Kraus-Boelte's rejoinder to Mr. Richter's letter. We are 
ourselves incompetent to decide upon the controversy, and 
have thought that it was best for our readers to have the 
views of both parties spread before them. Mrs. Kraus is a 
most delicate observer of children ; and has the advantage of 
all other kindergarteners in this country, in the very much 
longer time in which she has been at work, with ever-increas- 
ing enthusiasm on her own part, and an enthusiastically- 
expressed approval on the part of the parents of her happy 
pupils. 

To prevent all forced growth, and to ensure harmonious 
growth, is her object ; and we agree with her that the music 
is a most important means of success. But to have the music 
produce the true moral effect it must be simple, — the lan- 
guage of the heart, rather than of the mind, — making objec- 
tive that to which the emotions of the heart, rather than the 
thoughts of the mind, bear witness. If thought testifies of 
the fact of a material universe, in which God and man meet 
face to face, as it were ; the feelings^ whose words are musi- 
cal sounds, testify to the fact of a transcendental objective, a 
spiritual universe in which the soul and its Author meet, 
heart to heart. Now, on the same principle that Froebel 
lays the foundation of intellectual order in the human con- 
sciousness, by leading children to simple combinations of 
symmetries, involving clear discriminations of pleasing forms 
which are the elements of them ; so he would lay the founda- 
tion of aesthetic order (keeping the heart diligently), by accus- 
toming them to combine sweet sounds into very simple 
rhythms for their delight. Confusion of emotion is to be 
avoided no less than confusion of thought. 

Happy, healthy growth, is by means of "delight in the 
laws of the Lord," of which music (it is no metaphor to say) 
is the sound ; and hence music has its power to soothe the 
savage breast. Of course, the management of the music of 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 5 

the kindergarten is a vital matter, having so much power 
over the moods of the children. We have been greatly in- 
terested in seeing how children delight in the simple gamut, 
set to the words, " follow, follow me, follow me," repeated 
twice ; and how perfectly a child's ear may be developed by 
it, even when deficient at birth. 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

Iisr this last issue for the year, we will endeavor to answer 
some of the many letters we have had, inquiring into partic- 
ular points of the Froebel practice. The immediate replies 
that we made to the letters were but hints. We have re- 
served our more full answers till we should have time to 
speak to our whole little public. 

1. Orphan Asylums. One correspondent asks about 
suitable manual employments for the children of an orphan 
asylum, to enable them, when they leave the establishment, 
to earn their living. 

In the next chapter of the work "On Education by Labor," 
of whose preface and first chapter we have given a transla- 
tion in our last four Messengers, the Baroness Marenholtz 
speaks of the modifications of the Kindergarten which they 
have been obliged to make in Germany, on account of the 
impossibility of mixing the children of the highest classes 
with those of the burghers; and the burghers' children with 
those of the lowest class of laborers, and with the children 
in orphan asylums. Some parts of this chapter will apply 
to America; though Aere, happily, the more or less difierences 
of classes are not stereotyped into castes ; and present less 
need of a varied adaptation. But the modifications she sug- 
gests, consist largely of a difierence of cost in the materials, 
and very slightly, if at all, of modifications of the method 
of teaching, which, in all cases, is a persistent address to the 
self-activity of the moral, intellectual, and aesthetic nature, 
the religious sensibility inclusive. This is the only efiectual 



6 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

and right way of addressing any human being, in whatever 
accident of rank he may be born. "All souls are of one 
family," whose happiness is in self-forgetting, generous love^ 
which is the characteristic power of the human being ; and 
all minds are of one nature, whose dignity is in truths that 
is, apprehensions of things as they are, in relation to each 
other and to us, as the very word reason implies (being the 
anglification of the latin word ratio), whose material analagon 
is light, which the disciples of Hegel define as " the presence 
of the universal at the particular," and the Christian believer 
as '' the Word," which first caused the world to exist (by 
knowledge of whose serial forms the causal intelligence of 
man becomes conscious to itself). 

Looking at the subject in the lowest light, no children 
need a joyous self-reliance and self-respect more than those 
whose life is to be hard work ; and the kindergartener who 
is the most profoundly philosophic, that ' is, can go most 
readily to the primal truths, and is the least mechanical and 
least dominated by merely utilitarian objects, is the best 
qualified and most needed to teach those whose circum- 
stances will give them least opportunity for " Contemplation — 
that day without night!" whose "tower" can hardly be 
erected for any of us on this side of the grave, with perfect 
safety to our spiritual health. 

When the daily life is to be that of menial servants, let 
children all the more be given opportunity for that love of 
others, which makes the serving of others a joy, and which 
the social plays of the Kindergarten ai'e expressly intended 
to foster and render pure. The first thing the kindergartener 
of an orphan asylum should do, is to associate with , de- 
light the helpful activity which is instinctive in children, all 
of whom, while yet unconscious of any conventionalism, 
love to help their elders, by clearing up the rooms, and doing 
a multitude of little things, irksome and even repulsive to 
those who have passed out of the radiant mists of childhood. 
She should see to it that there never should be too much 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 7 

or too long exertion of the child's muscles, but should geni- 
ally lend a helping hand to accomplish the end, whenever 
il- is found to be painfully toilsome to the child. 

There is a notion with many, that the children of the poor 
will be best trained to work, by being kept ignorant of the 
possibilities of enjoyment, and accepting from the beginning 
the fact that pleasure is not their lot, but that they will have 
to work on when they are tired, and without reference to 
pleasant circumstances. There can be no greater mistake ! 
Children do not relax exertion ever, before the end of what 
they are doing is accomplished, from selfish laziness, but sim- 
ply because their strength is exhausted. If the thing in 
hand to be done, is of a nature that cannot be laid aside for 
another time, then bring in companions to help or to alternate 
the labor, or yourself alternate the labor with the child. To 
make perseverance a habit, gradualism must be observed, 
and social delight quickened. No industry is fervent but the 
spontaneous. When the impulse of the will begins to fail, 
instead of being peremptory, be persuasive by your fulness 
of social cheer. In any company of children, there will be 
different degrees of the original force of life. Some children 
are born of parents exhausted by too great labor, or by ex- 
treme suffering, or by dissipation. Among the children of 
the poor there needs must be more children whose power of 
will needs cherishing nurture, than among the children of 
the well-to-do. It is only in their early years that there is a 
chance for them to have this education of the Kindergarten, 
which is a cherishing nurture of self-activity, even more than 
it is regulation, though Froebel's idea of education always 
includes a fair proportion of both ; and his regulation, being 
rhythmical, is never depressing to the feelings, but quickens 
the will. 

We say, then, to our friend who makes the inquiry how 
is it best to employ the orphans in asylums, so that they may 
be prepared to earn their living, that all they do while they 
are children, however useful (and it is desirable that it should 



8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER, 

be obviously useful), should be pleasurable^ that is, should pre- 
serve the essential characteristics of play. Let them lay in a 
stock of joy in their youth, the joy of spontaneous activity 
according to their fancy, or, at least, not antagonistic to their 
fancy. Let their food be muscle-making, and vitalizing of nerve 
and brain, and never disagreeable. And do not require a 
monastic silence at meals ; laughter and cheerful conversa- 
tion are excellent digesters. Make good-nature easy, and 
selfishness seem to themselves unnecessary for self-defence. 

By and by, when all their limbs are fully grown and con- 
solidated, and their spontaneous childish affections are 
deepened by the reflections of maturity, appreciating family 
and national relations and interests, and the eternal relations 
of humanity, their human will shall become spiritual power 
of an immense force to overcome the dragon .evil which is 
the outgrowth and embodiment of all finite shortcomings. 
Bodily pain is certainly not an infinite evil, but it is an actual 
evil, great in proportion to the weakness inherited from an- 
cestral sinners, or brought on by sins of our own. Orphan 
asylums need all the occupations of the Kindergarten. Ball 
playing is not only useful for developing agility and grace of 
limb, but for strengthening the muscles, and sharpening the 
senses of sight and touch, and in all ways adding to the 
power over the body, which is certainly no less important to 
the poor than to the rich. The exercises on color sharpen 
the eye and mind at once. So much signaling is done by 
colors, that it is quite as useful as it is pleasurable for work- 
ing men not to be color blind. If the German worsted - 
covered balls cannot be afforded, you can at least let the 
children have pieces of glass of the three primary colors, to 
pile on each other and look through at the light, which will 
show them all the other colors in their various shades and 
tints. Glass of a bright yellow, carmine, and blue, can be 
had at those places where rose-windows are manufactured ; 
and a dozen pieces of each may be put into a box, which 
every child, or groups of two or three children, may have to 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 9 

amuse themselves with in turn, till they have all become 
acquainted with the composition of all varieties of color. 
If they never, in their subsequent lives, have any occasion to 
apply their knowledge practically, yet the use of those exer- 
cises on color which are involved in playing with this colored 
glass, will have done them the immense service of developing 
their eyesight to its perfection ; and will make the beautiful 
garniture of nature, and the glories of the morning and evening 
skies, daily solace of their toils. (For the common labors 
of life will continue to be toils, until all human faculty is 
educated to the divine order which makes it one with crea- 
tiveness — and no longer.) 

And here I cannot but pause to say to any young lady 
of cultivation, who may chance to read this page, what if 
you should qualify yourself to go among the poor children 
of orphan asylums, and see what you can do to give this 
education to those who need it so much ? I do not mean 
that you should devote your whole lives to this speciality, 
but give six months to the study of kindergartening, and 
then you will be able to alternate other things in your life 
with going into an orphan asylum several times a week for 
one winter, for the purpose of giving the children the com- 
mand of some one "occupation." A little experience of 
what maybe done with Froebel's method in orphan asylums, 
would soon open the minds of all the people to an appreci- 
ation of the vast scope of this vital reform in education, 
which is now so often thought of as a mere whimsical luxury, 
that it is an extravagance for even the rich to indulge in ! 

One of Mrs. Kraus-Boelte's pupils of 1873-4 was educated 
by a benevolent lady with express reference to carrying the 
method into an orphan asylum in Staten Island ; and we 
hope, by and by, to have a i-eport of her success, which must 
however, depend, in a considerable degree, on the apprecia- 
tion and consequent furtherance she receives from the com- 
mittee of direction in the asylum. 

One occupation of the Kindergarten is modelling in clay ; 



lO KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

and this material is so cheap that it is available for orphan 
asylums. Mr. E. A. Spring, the sculptor, who has made it a 
point to develop this occupation of the Kindergarten, has 
promised to this month's Messenger an article, which will 
tell what clay is best, how it is prepared, and what general 
rules there are for its successful use ; and, perhaps, will repeat 
what he said last spring, in the three lessons that he gave in 
the lecture room of the Boston University, showing the feasi- 
bility of giving the children a series of exercises on the 
forms of vegetable life, of animal life, and of chrystalization, 
which should serve as a basis for knowledge of the sciences 
of zoology, botany, and geometry, while the children only 
feel that they are enjoying their powers of reproduction and 
invention. Action in and on nature is the best means of 
studying the laws of nature, knowledge of which gives us 
our divinely-appointed dominion over it. Child's play is a 
witness of the inherent sovereignty of man on earth. But 
when fancy begins to yield to understanding, and the under- 
standing is not cultivated by an ever-present education, the 
common experience is a sad one. As Wordsworth says of 
the glory of childhood : 

" The man perceives it die away, 
And fade into the light of common day." 

But "Nature remembers," as he adds, "What was so fugi- 
tive," and if education will only step in, and make the art 
which is man's characteristic work, then 

"Another race is run, 
And other palms are won." 

It is humanity, the Social man, that preserves what the 
individual loses when left to the resources of an isolated 
individuality. God does nothing for man but by the instru- 
mentality of man. By the neglect and shortcoming of his 
fellow-man comes death (the death of the self-activity) ; by 
the saving instinct of man's love for man comes the resurrec- 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. II 

tion from the dead, and man's glorification into co-regency 
with God. To understand this high destiny of the race^ as 
SMc/i, will alone give the humility to which God can reveal 
himself as Father of the spirit, and make it thereby a S07i, 
which is the distinctive relation of man to God. All other 
things and beings are creations of God ; man alone is in filial 
relation, which implies a growing equality. Paul says that 
Christ Jesus " thought it not robbery to be equal with God," 
and Jesus says to his disciples, " All that is mine I give unto 
you." If we but read these "inimitable verdicts" of the 
Christian muse simply, and interpret them with common 
sense, we shall make all our human life divine, combining 
" the soul of the saint and the sage with the artless address 
of the child," For a truly divine life is not sanctimonious, 
but spontaneous as the song of the bird, and as devoid of 
egotism as the perfume of the flower. But the harmony of 
the divine life involves more than bird music and flower 
odors, like the beauty of the material cosmos, to which is 
essential the dark depths as well as the bright lights. The 
connection of contrasts, which are equal poles, makes the 
harmony. Every noble soul that has overcome evil with 
good, and surmounted difficulty by exertion, understands 
this paradox. Virtue, whose chief element is Jvrce, has a 
nobler ring than happiness, which expresses what happens to 
lis, irrespective of self-activity. The purification of self-ac- 
tivity bi/ order, is the end and aim of education according 
to Froebel. 

2. Children at Home. Another letter is from a mother 
who lives in a distant state, so far from any neighbors that 
a Kindergarten is a physical impossibility. She says her lit- 
tle boy is just at the age (three years) when Froebel counsels 
that children be sent to a Kindergarten ; and the wisdom of 
his counsel she recognizes, finding herself baffled in the at- 
tempt to meet sufficiently the growing wants which begin to 
make him troublesome. " I know," she says, " that the soli- 
tary place I live in is a disadvantage not to be overcome. I 



12- KINDERGARTEN- MESSENGER. 

fully agree that the social nature requires such cultivation as 
only the society of children of an equal age can meet, in oi'- 
der to balance the tendency to self-consideration, which 
becomes disproportionately strong when there is nothing to 
vivify the germ of love of others, which, as you have well 
said, is the divinely-constituted balance to it. I must lose 
the opportunity of making him bear and forbear, and deny 
himself for the sake of furthering loved companions' pleasure, 
which are virtues almost unconsciously exercised in the 
movement plays, where, also, there is a tertium quid to which 
they all do homage, namely, the charming effect of the per- 
fectly-ordered play. But cannot you tell me how I can 
diminish the bad eifect of the circumstances of his life, which 
I cannot control ? I shall make it a point to play with him 
myself more than I should need to do if he had companions 
of his own age. Will that do ? " 

I will copy the answer sent to this part of the letter, for 
the benefit of other mothers in similar circumstances. 

" In the appendix of my Kindergarten Guide, published 
by J. W. Schermerhom, 14 Bond Street, New York, you 
will find described about a dozen plays, to which is given the 
music, with the words of the directing song, taken from 
Ronge's Guide, in which are given thirty-two plays. Cer- 
tainly these plays cannot be performed to perfection with- 
out ten or a dozen children unite ; but an approximation can 
be made in some of them, even if you can give the child no 
other companion than yourself. 

For instance, in the case of the play of the farmer, you 
can make with him the motions of the sower, reaper, thrasher, 
and sifter. 

First call his attention to the fact that all these things 
*must be done, or we should have no bread to eat. Since the 
farinaceous grains do not grow wild anywhere, but need hu- 
man labor for their production, we give children a lesson in 
practical religion by bringing home to them the fact that it 
is by the intentional concurrence of the action of God and 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 3 

man that we obtain the staff of life. The child asks — or 
you can ask him — where the corn comes from. I should 
advise that you should say, not that God makes the corn, but 
that the com grows. Then you can ask what or who makes 
it grow. The answer may be " God," or, " the farmer," and 
you will reply that God and the farmer make it grow. Now 
what part does the farmer do, and what part does God do ? 
Having agreed that the farmer puts the corn into the 
ground, and God sends the sunshine and rain to warm the 
seed and moisten it, and make it burst, so that the inside of 
the seed may get at the ground and suck into itself the food 
which makes it grow, and try to get up out of the ground to 
see the dear sun that loves it, and whom it loves — you can 
say that as soon as it pops its head out of the ground, it 
drinks the dew and rain and the sunshine, and grows larger 
and larger, till by and by it is as tall as the little boy, and 
sometimes as tall as papa or mamma. At first it looks like 
grass, but soon grains of wheat grow on the plant and ripen, 
and then the farmer cuts it down with his scythe (describe 
this instrument, and make an image of it, perhaps in paper, 
or by drawing it, and show how the farmer swings it to cut 
down the grain). Having got so far, you can say, "Now let 
us play sowing and reaping the corn." As two cannot make 
the circle, you can tell him to follow you, while you walk up 
and down the field singing, " Would you know, etc." Soon 
you will stop, and making believe one hand for the receptacle 
of the seed, you throw the seed with the other as you sing, 
" It is so," &c. Proceed in the same way with the reaping. 
This will be enough for a beginning, but you can prolong it 
by singing, la, la, la, as a chorus, and by having the child 
learn to sing the words himself. Another day, having gone 
thus far perfectly, explain the necessity of thrashing the 
wheat, and give him an idea of a flail, and how it is used. 
Afterwards explain the necessity of sifting, and, if possible, 
show a real sieve, and how it must be shaken to let the chaff 
through and leave the corn in the sieve. The resting after 



14 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

the work is very simple, and the playing which comes after 
rest. 

But what is essential in all this, is to really play with the 
child, giving yourself up to itj and you may find it salutary 
to your own health and spirits thus to become genuinely a 
little child again. For in the delight of the child you will 
not fail to find a genuine delight for yourself. Probably the 
child will want you to play over again, longer than your own 
strength will hold out; and then it will not be a useless 
lesson to him to yield to your less strength for play. Some- 
times, perhaps, your husband, or some young visitor, will join 
in it, and you might do a real charity to the children of poor 
neighbors, to call them in to make the play merrier, insisting 
on their learning the words of the song and making the mo- 
tions rythmically, and so teaching them gentleness of manner, 
and to think. 

There are other plays that may follow this one. The corn 
is to be ground to make flour. You probably have a coffee 
mill in the house, and can illustrate the idea of a mill thereby. 
The play of the wind mill can follow, and then of the water 
mill, which can be played by two who join right hands and 
go round each other singing the first rhyme, and then join 
left hands and go round singing the other. When there can 
be a party of four it will be better ; and if there are more, 
eight persons, there can be made a rim to the waterwheel. 
The wheelbarrow, the weathercock, and the pendulum (the 
sight and explanation of which are good object lessons) can 
be played by two. But to make play interesting to the child, 
the essential thing is to talk about what is represented by it 
or dramatised, and make it an earnest game ; and this can 
be done even if only two are engaged. 

Mr. Hailman, in his " Kindergarten Culture," tells in detail 
how the gifts of the Series are to be used by the mothers 
(for he relegates all these to the mother's work, as Froebel 
did before he invented the Kindergarten in 1840). But he 
shows that he knows nothing personally of little children, 




KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. I 5 

by his proposal that the second Gift should be given to the 
child at six months. If the child is ever to go to Kindergar- 
ten, it is better that only the first Gift should be used at home. 
It wastes the Gifts to use them otherwise than as Froebel 
directs. 

Another mother writes to ask how the paper-cutting is 
done, saying she has sent to Steiger for the material, and is 
disappointed that it comes without directions. This lady is 
in Kentucky, far away from any Kindergarten, and does not 
seem to understand that the new education does not consist 
in these occupations, but in a development of the powers, on 
a system based upon a conception of the whole nature, which 
is to be addressed as a self-acting person. The paper-cutting 
is one of the last things given to children to do. Squares or 
circles of paper are given, and the children are taught to fold 
them, first into two parts, triangles or semi-circles, then to be 
folded again into smaller triangles or quadrants; and then 
again into still smaller triangles or eighths of a circle. This 
folding is to be done very accurately ; and then the folded 
paper is to be cut in various ways, and unfolded. And al- 
ways there will be found the materials of a symmetry. At 
least one of the pieces is peculiar and makes the foundation 
of the form, and then there will be found to be the materials 
for a symmetrical arrangement around this central piece, by 
following the law of opposites. It is out of the question to 
use Froebel's materials in his way, and for the purpose of a 
regular development, without having received the training 
fi-om a living teacher. The only way to promote this reform 
is to induce young women to go to the training schools. 
Kindergartening is an art founded on a science as severe as 
music, and it will be found as absorbing as music. 

It is noteworthy that in old Rome the name for the 
schoolmaster was Magister ludorum. Master of Sports. 



1 6 KINDERGARTEN- MESSENGER. 

AN EXAMPLE WOETHY OF IMITATION. 

A friend sends us " A Day in the Kindergarten of Fraulein 
Held, at Nashua, N. H.," and begs us to insert it in our 
paper; because, as she says, "Mr, Atherton's action in this 
matter is an example worthy of imitation, and suggests a 
mode in which the Kindergarten may be planted in a great 
many places, where, as yet, there is but little, if any knowl- 
edge, of what this new education is / for, you know, many 
suppose it is merely for amusing the children, without, at 
the same time, and by means of their amusement, teaching 
them how themselves to produce the order which at once 
makes the play beautiful and themselves the creators of its 
beauty. 

" I have frequently heard you say, that this reform is in a 
vicious circle ; people cannot appreciate its value, except by 
seeing a Kindergarten in operation; and we cannot get a 
Kindergarten in operation except by means of a trained 
kindergartener, in whose intelligence and loving activity, 
the activity of the children can sympathetically ' move and 
have its being^ during the era of their own dawning sense 
of responsibility. But in almost every town of any size 
there may be found some cultivated man or woman, of pub- 
lic spirit and means, who can do as Mr. Atherton does in 
this instance, set a kindergartener at work, free from pecuni- 
ary embarassment for one or two years ; and, in the course 
of this time, a Kindergarten will grow up and root itself, to be 
supported thereafter by the people, who will have learnt that 
it is the truest economy, to say nothing of considerations 
beyond all pecuniary ones, to put their children, in the begin- 
ning of their life, upon the way of order, aasthetic, moral, and 
intellectual. For then the opportunities for school educa- 
tion, on which so much public and private money is expended, 
will tell. Whenever children, before they are seven years 
old, are educated by a truly educated kindergartener, they 
can all but educate themselves afterwards ; and certainly are 
found perfectly easy to teach and manage ; for they under- 



KINDERGARTEN- MESSENGER. 1 7 

stand the vernacular language addressed to them with pre- 
cision; ♦have no belligerent habits of self-defence, but are in 
affectionate confidence instead of chronic fear of others. 
This is the testimony of all teachers who have received 
pupils from well-trained kindergarteners." 

We have not space to copy the whole article, but we will 
give one or two extracts : 

" We found Miss Held in a spacious room, sunny and 
cheerful ; the walls adorned with plants and vines and pleas- 
ant pictures. * * * She was surrounded by eighteen or twen- 
ty little children, between the ages of three and seven, 
sitting at low tables, the tops of which are marked off into 
inch squares. * * * In their midst sat Miss Held, thoroughly 
.mistress of the situation, and the impersonation of good 
sense and good humor combined. Kind, helpful, earnest, 
patient, and devoted to her work, she quickly wins the love 
and confidence of the children, even the most shy, who all 
seemed to know that in her they had a very dear friend. 

"When we entered, the children were each engaged in 
forming a pretty star-shaped figure upon the tables in front 
of them, with variously colored plane tablets, cut into trian- 
gles. * * * Guided by Miss Held, each produced the same 
figure, differing only in color. Each was then told to pro- 
duce such a figure as they might choose, using all the pieces ; 
and the result was truly wonderful in the variety and the 
beauty of the different combinations. (This is the method 
with all the occupations ; first the little ones are led, then 
they are allowed to go alone.) 

" Then came some very simple and easy exercises in draw- 
ing on their slates, which are.marked off into squares like their 
tables ; and, at first, they copied on their slates the work done 
in sticks, and then all made such pictures as pleased them best. 
* * * After this occupation was ended, the folding doors 
were opened into a room still larger, also sunny and bright, 
and the children marched into it, to the music of a pretty 
song, in which all joined. There, a series of games was 



1 8 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

played, uniting song, gymnastics, and speech, to the intense 
delight of the participants, and the — by no means — slight 
enjoyment of the lookers-on. These games all have a mean- 
ing and an object, being arranged with a view to the harmo- 
nious and healthy growth of the child's mental, moral, and 
physical nature. * * * After a short lunch, the occupations 
were resumed again. When they first gathered around the 
tables, it seemed not unlike the assembling together of quite 
a number of ladies at a tea-party, the conversation was so 
brisk and sociable ; but in three or four minutes, each child 
was intently engaged, sewing in and out with colored threads. 
" It was not like a school ; there was no repression, no en- 
forced silence, no fear of the teacher, no books, no punish- 
ments. It was rather like a cheerful workshop, where each 
was absorbed in his work, not as a disagreeable task, but 
rather as a delightful occupation. Strict silence was by no 
means enjoined.* * * While the rest were at work, it occurred 
to one bright-eyed little fellow that he would like to recite 
a verse; leave was granted, and we undoubtedly got the 
benefit of his last exercise at the Sunday school. A little 
girl followed with a verse that was evidently original, and 
none the less interesting for that ; and then one volunteered 
a song. There was apparently no thought of showing ofi", 
nothing got up beforehand for the occasion ; but they were 
spontaneous outbreaks of their childish, happy natures. * * * 
Still the work went on, and the beginning of some very pretty 
designs were wrought out. The children seemed happy but 
not boisterous ; attentive to their play-work, but not stunned 
into stupid apathy. It was order that seemed the outgrowth 
of the will of each child, guided, by an -evident desire to do 
something that should meet with the approval of Miss Held, 
How such order could be brought out of the chaos that must 
have existed on the first day, was a mystery which one 
could hope to solve only after frequent and prolonged visits. 
* * * We visited the garden where each little one had his 
separate bed, in which he could dig and hoe and watch the 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 1 9 

growth of his products to his heart's content. * * * One little 
fellow had raised squashes and beets ; another had obtained 
a wonderful growth of tomatoes. * * * 

« This Kindergarten, the first established in New Hamp- 
shire, owes its origin to the active exertions of Henry B. 
Atherton, Esq., who has interested the people in the matter, 
collected pupils, and assumed, for the time being, the entire 
pecuniary responsibility. ■ 

" This he did, in the first place, that his own children 
might have the advantage of such instruction. From the 
stu'dy of Froebel's educational ideas, having become con- 
vinced that it is the only rational principle of primary edu- 
cation, he thinks the surest and speediest way to secure its 
general adoption, is to demonstrate its usefulness and neces- 
sity, by the actual working of a well-conducted Kindergarten. 
The practical illustration of the new education thus afibrded, 
is better than volumes of mere theoretical illustration. He 
has been fortunate in securing the co-operation of Fraulein 
Held. *** A native of Berlin, she graduated at the best young 
ladies' school in that city; and having become interested in 
Froebel's method, she went through a course of instruction 
in the Froebel Seminary of Nurses ; and then attended the 
Kindergarten Normal School, where she passed her exami- 
nations and received her diploma, after a year of study. She 
is earnestly devoted to her profession, and heartily fond of 
little children. Being an accomplished musician, she is able 
to o-ive valuable instruction in music to the little ones. We 
noticed that they sung several simple German songs with as 
much readiness and apparent enjoyment as they did those in 
their mother-tongue. Miss Held speaks with ease both Ital- 
ian and French, as well as English." 



20 KINDERGARTEN- MESSENGER. 



REVISION or THE LIST OF KINDESaARTENS. 

Since March, 1874, when we gave a list of genuine kindergar- 
teners, of whose training in the Method of Froebel we were 
personally cognizant, there have gone to work many more. 

Names marked with * designate Mrs. Kriege's pupils ; those marked with t, Miss 
Garland's; and those marked with J, Mrs. Ogden's. 

* Miss Hickey, Charity Kindergarten, 224 Hanover Street, Boston. 

* Miss Hooper, Kindergarten in private house, Alexandria, Va. 

* Miss Mary S. Fuller, Ellis Street, Boston Highlands. 

t Miss Noyes, Charity Kindergarten, North End Mission, Boston. 

t Miss Proctor and Miss Barstow, Portland, Me. 

t Mrs. "Ward, Salem, Massachusetts. 

t Miss Laura Garland, 70 I Street, Washington, D. C. 

Mrs. Louisa Pollock, Droit Park, ,/ „ 

t Miss Eliza O. Williams, 190 Eutaw Street, Baltimore. 
t Miss Helen Hawkins, 1333 Pine Street, Philadelphia, 
t Miss Marianna Gay, 5090 Green Street, Germantown, Pa. 
t Miss Bryant, Orange, N. Jersey. 

* Miss Isabel Moore, Swedenborgian Church, E. 35th Street, N. Y. 

* Miss Kate E. Smith, removed to Hackensack, N. J. 

t Miss C. E. Dewing, removed to private house, Philadelphia. 

* Miss Annie C. Rust, removed to 22 Montgomery Street, Boston. 

* Miss Mattie Stearns, removed to Homesworth, New Haven, Ct. 

* Miss Hersey, removed to South Reading, Mass. 

* Mrs. C. B. Thomas, gone to carry Kindergarten to the Karens, 

of Burmah. 

* Miss Marston, gone to carry Kindergarten into the Zenani, India. 

* Miss PrisciUa Hayden, removed to Somerville, Mass. 

* Miss Gilmore, gone to California, perhaps into the Kindergarten 

of Mrs. Alice T. Toomy, California and Gough Streets. 

* Miss Phalon, considering invitations to two Orphan Asylums. 

* Miss Hall, at Miss Hilliard's School, West Cedar Street, Boston. 
X Miss Conover, Kalamazoo, Michigan. 

% Mrs. Holbrook, Minneapolis, Minn. 

X Miss Mcintosh, 22 Mansfield Street, Montreal, P. Q. 

X Miss Sara Eddy, 51 Sheldon Street, Chicago. (West Side.) 

X Mrs. A. H, Putnam, 1430 Prairie Avenue, Chicago. 

t Miss Kate Cutler, West Medford, Mass. 

t Miss Tolman, Kindergarten at large for charity. 

t Miss Firth, Boston kindergartener, but not in a Kindergarten. 

t Miss D. A. Curtis, removed to Chauncy Hall School, Boston. 

t Mrs. Ogden, 157 Cottage Grove Avenue, Kindergarten Square, 
Chicago, where she has transferred her Training School for 
Teachers. (Board can be had in the same house.) 

* Miss Garland has continued her Training Class this year, and 

goes on with her Kindergarten and Intermediate Class, with 
the help of Miss R. I. Weston, whom she trained in 1872-3. 



KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 21 

Mrs. Kraus-Boelte has removed from 26 East 50th Street, where 
she began in October, to 1266 and 1268 Broadway, New York, 
where she has obtained rooms much more spacious, and with 
finer light than ever before. Here she carries on, with the 
greatest satisfaction to herself and others, her large Kinder- 
garten, her Class for Mothers (which she finds of the happiest 
influence on the cause), and a Training Class for Teachers, in 
which many of her pupils of last year are continuing their 
studies with her. Another year she will be able to supply a 
demand for the most accomplished ones. Of her last year's 
class, we know that Mrs. T. J. M'guire is teaching a Kinder- 
garten in St. Louis College, 228-232 West 44th Street; and 
another one, whose name we have lost, is in the Soldiers' 
Orphanage, Staten Island. 

Of those mentioned in our list last March, they who have not 
changed their places are Miss Julia Smith, Montclair, N. J. ; Mrs. 
Longfellow, 128 Remsen Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. ; Miss Mary C. 
Peabody, Seventh Street, New Bedford ; Miss Hyde, Grand Rapids, 
Michigan; Mrs. Watermian, Melrose; Mrs. Knox, 1 Elm Street, 
Worcester; Miss Alice Matthews, Yarmouth Port; Miss Nina 
More, Mt. Vernon Street, Boston; Miss Symonds, of the Public 
Kindergarten, Boston; Miss Garland, 98 Chestnut Street, Boston ; 
Miss Blow, of St. Louis (who also has a Training Class). 

Several have left the field : three by reason of marriage. Miss 
Anna Davis, Miss Horn, and Miss Viaux; one by death, Mrs. Mar- 
cellus. This leaves vacancies to be supplied by the classes who will 
graduate next May and June. There are many of those trained in 
Boston who, from various causes beyond their control, are not 
keeping Kindergarten : * Miss Satterie, teaching in Rutger's Insti- 
tute, New York ; * Miss Snelling, a very gifted one ; * Miss Ingalls, 
of Natick; * Miss. Dyke, of Stoneham; * Mrs. Kessler, now teach- 
ing in an asylum for the blind, in Ohio ; also several mothers and 
one grandmother, who learned the system for the sake of their own 
families. 

Miss Marwedel opened her Training School at 800 Eighteenth 
Street, Washington, D. C, as late as November 30th. She is 
assisted by Professor Hiehle in this department, who was a pupil of 
Froebel, and invited to work with him, In the Normal School of 
Marienthal. 

Mrs. Kriege conducts the Training School, and Miss Alma 
Kriege the Kindergarten, of Miss Haines's School, in Gramercy 
Park, New York. 



INDEX 

TO THE 



MAY, 18 7 3. 

Our Eeason for Being. — Our Hopes. — Origin of Kindergartens. — 
Revival of Froebel's Kindergarten, by the " Congress of Philoso- 
phers," in 1867. — Nursery Songs of Froebel. — Fanny's Letter from 
a Froebel Nursery, about the new born baby. 

JUNE. 

Froebel's Law of Contrasts and their Connection, by Miss Gar- 
land. — Exhibition of Miss Garland's Training School. — Mrs. 
Ogden's paper on the Relation of Kindergarten to Primary Schools. 
— What I Saw in a Kindergarten, by Mrs. C. R. Whipple. — Kinder- 
garten Training School at Manchester, England. — Fanny's Letter 
describing a Kindergarten. 

JULY. 

Child-Gardening as a Profession. — How to secure genuine Kin- 
dergarteners. — A Beginning has been made. — Kindergarten Litera- 
ture.— Mrs. Whipple on the "Trotty Book." — Froebel's Mother 
Song translated. — Fanny's third Letter. 

AUGUST. 

Universal acknowledgment of Kindergarten Principles, by Posi- 
tive Philosophers, Jews, Roman Catholics, French Savants, &c. — 
Shall Children Play? by Miss Noa.— Telling the Truth, by Miss 
Brackett. — Elegy on an Infant. — Fanny's fourth Letter. — Froebel's 
Mother Songs. 

SEPTEMBER. 

Quakerism and Kindergartens. — Let Children Play, by W. T. 
Harris. — Object Teaching in Kindergarten. — Mrs Ploetderll's Paper, 
read at Teacher's Convention in 1872, at Hoboken. — Froebel's 
Mother Song. 

OCTOBER. 

Froebel as Builder, by Miss R. J. Weston. — Play of Children, by 
Miss Noa. — Book Notices. — Froebel's Mother Song. 

NOVEMBER. 

What should the Kindergartner know and be? by Miss D. A. 
Curtis. — Command of Language to be gained in Kindergarten. — 
Mrs. Whipple's Letter on Combined Nurseries. — Translations from 
Notes of Froebel's Mother Book. 



KINDERGARTEN- MESSENGER.- 23 

DECEMBER. 

Combined Nurseries. — The Kindergarten, What is it? by Miss 
Dewing. — Letter from Mrs. Kriege, on the Convention at Cassell. — 
Mrs Kraus-Boelte's Kindergarten and Training School. — Miss Gar- 
laud's Kindergarten and Training School. — Mr. Cushing's Letter ap- 
proving the Public Kindergarten in Boston. — Mrs. Ogden's Training 
Class at Columbus, Ohio. — Fanny's Letter about the Kindergarten 
Play with Colors. 

JANUARY, 1874. 

Glimpses of Psychology: Imagination. — After Kindergarten, 
What? — An Octogenarian's Testimony. — Story versus History. — 
A Nursery Song.— Fanny's second Letter on Colors. 

FEBRUARY. 

Preface to Fi'oebel's Menschen Erziehung. — Glimpses of Psy- 
chology : Will. — The Education of the Present, by Baroness Maren- 
holtz Bulow. — Froebel and Pestalozzi Compared, by Mrs. Kriege. — 
After Kindergarten, What? — Fanny's third Letter on Colors. 

MARCH. 

Continuation of Froebel's Preface. — Glimpses of Psychology : 
Abstraction. — The Home, by Mrs. Mann. — Harmony of Froebel 
and Swedenborg. — List of genuine Kindergarteners. 

APRIL. 

Froebel's Preface, continued. — Glimpses of Psychology : The 
Human Understanding. — Teaching Little Children to Bead, by Mrs. 
Kriege. — Froebel's Mother Book, translated. — Mr. Philbrick's 
Meeting, at Wesleyan Hall. — Letter from Mr. John Kraus. 

MAY. 

Conclusion of Froebel's Prefaces. — Genuine Kindergarten. Testi- 
mony of Hon. N. P. Trist — Glimpses of Psychology: Conscience. 
— Notices of several Kindergartens. — Miss Marwedel's School of 
Industry and Kindergarten, at Washington, D. C. 

JUNE. 

First chapter of Froebel's Education of Man : The Nursling. — 
Glimpses of Psychology. — A Day in Mrs. Kraus-Boelte's Kinder- 
garten. — Poem. — Lady Baker's Kindergarten Music. — Exhibition 
of Miss Garland's Training Class of 1874. — Mr. Spring's Lectures 
on Modelling. 

JULY. 

Froebel's second chapter: The Child Speaking. — Kindergarten 
Songs : Mrs. Kraus Boelte. — Mr. Payne's Lecture on Froebel, to the 
College of Preceptors in London. — Mrs. Kriege's Letter on the K. 
G. Convention at Brunswick. — Mr. Spring's Summer Modelling 
School, at Eagleswood Park, Perth Amboy. — His Lines on Work. 



24 KINDERGARTEN MESSENGER. 

AUGUST. 

Preface to Baroness Marenholtz's Education by Labor. — Kinder- 
garten Music, by Mrs. Kraus-Boelte. — Independency of Kindergar- 
tens. — Mrs. Kraus-Boelte's Exhibition of the Training School, and 
Address. — Italo- American Schools and Kindergarten. 

SEPTEMBER. 

Education by Labor, chapter 1st. — Eyes that See and Ears that 
Hear, by Miss Symonds. — The Rose "Window, by Miss Tolman. 

OCTOBER. 

A New Movement for Integral Education, with Reports of Dr. E. 
H. Clarke's and Bishop Ferrette's Speeches. — Mr. Richter on Music 
for Kindergartens. — Herr Axend's Report on Kindergartens. — 
Notices of the National Educational Convention at Detroit : Mrs. 
Martin's Lecture : Reminiscence of Warren Colburn. — State Con- 
vention of Teachers, at Shippensburg, Pa. 

NOVEMBER. 

Froebel in 1827 and 1840. — Education by Labor, end of chapter 
1st. — Letter of Froebel's Widow to Mrs. Kraus-Boelte. — Progress 
of Kindergarten in England. — American Training Schools for Kin- 
dergarteners of the West and South. 

D EC EMBER. 

Summer Kindergartens. — An Example Worthy of Imitation: 
Kindergarten in Nashua, N. H. — Music in the Kindergarten. — 
Answers to Correspondents. — Index to the First Series of Kinder- 
garten Messenger, from May, 1873, to January, 1875. 

N. B. As we find we have not more than 500 subscribers good 
for payment, and these do not pay the printer, and we have no capi- 
tal to fall back upon, we needs must close our publication. But so 
earnest are the bulk of our paying subscribers that we should not 
stop, and their promise to aid us as voluntary agents for procur- 
ing subscribers is so encouraging, that we will restxme with a 
thousand subscribers, as soon as we have that number. The terms 
will continue the same as hitherto. We will send superfluous num- 
bers gratis to whoever desires to examine them with view of sub- 
scribing, or to use them in voluntary agency. We have also for 
sale about fifty sets from July, 1873, to January, 1875, which we will 
send postpaid for $1.50 each, and a hundred sets for 1874 for f 1. 
Also two Lectures, one on the Education of a Kindergartener, and 
one on the Nursery Education introductory to and identical with the 
Kindergarten, for 25 cents each. J. W. Schermerhorn & Co., 14 
Bond Street, New York, will mail for $1.25 my Kindergarten Guide, 
including Mrs. Hoi-ace Mann's Moral Culture of Infancy, with 
music for 10 plays. 

It we resume in February, we shall make a double number ; if not 
till March, a treble number. If we are obliged to despair of a thou- 
sand subscribers, we will refund the money advanced, in April, 1875. 
Meanwhile we beg all our subscribers who wish to continue to let 
us know. 



April 1874, 



Kindergarten Qifts 

and 

O <3oii. patio II ]>X a t e r i a 1 . 

for sale by 

E. Steiger, 22 & 24 Frankfort str., JVew York, 



FiEST Gift. 




For tlie youngest children: 
Six soft Balls of various colors. Aim: to 
teach color (primary and secondary) 
and direction (right and left, up and 
down): to traiu the eye: to exercise the 
hands, arms and feet in various plays. 
Per Set, in Wooden Box, $1.00 

Second Gift, 




Sphere, Cube and Cylinder. Aim: to 
teach form: to direct the attention of the 
child to similarity and dissimilarity be- 



tween objects. This is done by pointing 
out, explaining and counting the sides, 
corners and edges of the cube: by 
showing that the properties of the 
sphere, cylinder and cube are diiferent 
on account of their difference of shape; 
by pointing out that the apparent form 
of the sphere is unchanged, from wher- 
ever viewed, but that the apparent 
forms of the cube and cylinder differ 
acccordingtothe point from which they 
are viewed. 

The forms are of wood, machine- 
made for this special purpose; are neat 
and provided with the necessary stai^les 
and holes for hanging. 

In Wooden Box, with cross-beam for 
hanging the forms, $0.70 



Third Gift. 

Large Cube, divided 

into eight small 

cubes of equal size. 

Aim: to illustrate 

form and nutnber; 

also to give the first 

idea of fractions. 

In Wooden Box, 

$0.30 

Diagrams and Directions for using the 

Third Gift. In Wrapper, $0.25 



Fourth Gift. 

Large Cube, di- 
vided into eight 
oblong blocks. — 
The points of si- 
milarity and dif- 
ference between 
this and the Third 
Gift should be in- 
In Wooden Box, $0.30 

Diagrams and Directions for using the 
Fourth Gift. In Wrapper, $0.25 





(S. ^titger, ^tis ^atk 



Fifth Gift. 




This is a continnation of, and comple- 
ment to, the Third Gift. It consists of 
twenty-one whole, six half- and twelve 
quarter-cnhes, forming altogethei' 07t.e 
large Cube. In Wooden Box, $0.75 

Diagrams and Directions for using tli'=i 
Fifth Gift. In Wrapper, "^^0.50 

Fifth Gift B. 

The Child's Fifth Building Box, a combi- 
nation of the Fifth and Second Gilts. 

$1.00 

Diagrams and Directions for using the 
Fifth Gift B. In Wrapper, $0.50 



Sixth Gift, 




This is a continuation of, and comple- 
ment to, the Fourth Gift. It consists of 
eighteen tohole oblong blocks, three 
similar blocks divided lengthwise, and 
six divided breadthwise, forming alto- 
gether one large Cube. In Wooden Box, 

$0.75 

Diagrams and Directions for ^sing the 
Sixth Gift. In Wrapper, $0.50 



Froehel's Fifth Gift (Third Building Box), 
extra-large size, 1^ cubic feet, $7.20 

Froebel's Sixth Gift (Fourth Building 
Box), extra-large size, IJ cubic feet, 

$9.00 
2 



Seventh Gift. 

Quadrangular and triangular Tablets 
of polished wood. Each kind m Wooden 
Box. These tablets, as well as the 
previous Gifts are designed for instruc- 
tion in reversing the position of forms 
and combining them. In the six previ- 
ous Gifts the child had to do with sohds: 
by the tablets the plane surfaces are re- 
presented; these are followed by the 
straight line in the Eighth (lift, and the 
curxied line in the Ninth Gift. 



A. Four large right- 
angled Triangles, $0.25 




B. Eight Squares, 



$0.30 



C. Nine equilateral Tri- 
angles, $0.30 



Diagrams to same. In Wrapper, $0.40 

D. Sixteen isosceles Triangles, 
$0.30 

Diagrams to same. In Wrapper, $0.30 

E. Thirty-two isosceles Triangles, $0.40 
Diagrams to same. In Wrapper, $0.30 

▲ F. Fifty-four equilateral Triangles, 
$0.50 

Diajrams to same. In Wrapper, $0.40 

G. Fifty-six isosceles Triangles, $0.50 
Diagrams to same. In Wrapper, $0.30 

iiiiiiiniiiiijf^ H. Fifty-six scalene Triangles, 

l iillllllilifcfc^ ^ $0.60 

Diagrams to same. In Wrapper, lO.iS 

I. Forty - four obtuse Tri- 
angles, $0.90 

Diagrams to same. In Wrapper, $0.40 

Box containing, in five divisions, 
Squares and the four different kinds of 
Triangles, with Diagrams, $1.60 

Box with glass cover, containing, in 
five divisions, Squares and four differ- 
ent kinds of Triangles, in finely colored 
and polished wood, $6.00 




€. mtiqtt, f efe fork. 



Eighth Gift. 



sticks for Stick-Laying. This Gift con- 
sists of thin wooden Sticks, about 13 
inches long, to be cut into various 
lengths by the teacher or pupil, as occa- 
sion may require. These Sticks, like 
most of the previous Gifts, are designed 
to teach numerical proportions. The 
Multiplication Table is practically 
taught by means of this Gift. Reading, 
according to. the Phonetic method, is 
taught by imitating with these Sticks 
the letters of the Alphabet. In the 
same way the Roman and Arabic nu- 
merals are taught previous to instruc- 
tion in writing. 

Package of 1000 Sticks, 2 inches long, 

$0.30 

Package of 1000 Sticks, 3 inches long. 
$0.30 

Package of 1000 Sticks, 4 inches long. 
$0.30 

Package of 1000 Sticks, 5 inches long. 
$0.30 

Package of 500 Sticks, 13 inches long, 
$0.50 



Diagrams, in Wrapper, 



.10.30 



Box with Sticks of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 
5 inches long, $0.35 



Ninth Gift. 




Rings for Ring-La3dng. This Gift con- 
sists of whole and half Rings of various 
stze.s, in M'ire, for forming ligures. These 
flings, like the Sticks in the Eighth Gift, 
are intended to teach the first elements 
of form as an introduction to drawing. 
Box of whole and half Rings of vario\is 
3izes, $0.75 



Diagrams, in Wrapper, 
3 



$0.60 



Tenth Gift. 

Drawing-Slates and Paper. The mate- 
rial used is, first. Slates ruled in squares, 
next. Paper ruled in squares. This 
method of beginning drawing is the 
most systematic and perfect ever in' 
vented for young children. It is inter- 
esting to noie how rapidly, by it, even 
the youngest pupils advance. 

K.FRCEBEL'S Elements of Designing, 
on the Developing System, for Elemen- 
tary School Classes, and for Families, 
4 Parts, each containing 24 pages ruled 
in squares, with designs and space for 
copying, each part $0.35 

Part I. Straight Lines, and their Com- 
binations. 

Part II. Straight Lines, and their Com- 
binations. 

Part III. Straight Lines, and their 
Combinations. 

Part IV. Circles and Curved Lines, 
and their Combinations. 

Each page of the given Examples is fol- 
lowed by a blank page for the Composi- 
tions, Combinations, or Inventions of tha 
pupil. 

Drawing-Books, ruled in squares, on 

both sides, per doz. $0.70 

Paper ruled in squares on both sides, 

per quire, $0.40 

Pencils, per doz., $0.75 

Pencils (fine), per doz., $0.90 

Slates, 13^ by 10 inches, (No. 12) 

ruled in squares on one side, each $0.50 
Slates, 12 by 9 inches, (No. 9) ruled 

in squares, each $0.40 

Slates, 10 by 7J inches, (No. 6) ruled 

in squares, each $0.30 

Slate-Pencils, per box of 100, $0.60 

Slate-Pencils (fine), per doz., $0.15 

per gross, $1.50 

Eleventh Gift. 

Perforating-Paper. A Package of 50 

sheets of paper, 11 by 8J inches, ruled 

in squares on one side only, $0.50 

Package of same, 25 sheets $0.30 



Perforating-Needles with short hand- 
les, per doz., $1.40 



Perforating-Needles with long hand- 
les, per doz., $0.60 

Perforating-Needles with long black 
handles, per doz., $0,25 



@. Bttv^tx, ^efa ^ork. 



Perforating-Cushions, each, $0.25 

per dozen, $2.40 

Material for perforating 
No. 1, in Wrapper, $0.50 

No. 2, in Wrapper, $0.50 

Twelfth Gift, 

Embroidering Material. The perfora- 
ting material is also used in this Gift : 
after the pattern is perforated, it is em- 
' broidered vdth colored silk or worsted 
on cardboard. Material for perforating 
and embroidering, in Wrapper, $0.6b 

Cardboard ruled in squares on one 
side, Package of 25, $0.20 

Blotting Pad, Package of 25, $0.15 

Cardboard (fine). Package of 25, $0.20 

Twelve Designs, 8 by 6 inches, for 
perforating and embroidering, in Wrap- 
per, Nos. 1 to 12, each $0.50 

Cardboard (fine), 8 by 6 inches, to be 
used with the Pictures, Packages of 
12, $0.20 

Twelve Designs, 6|- by 4 inches, for 
perforating and embroidering, in Wrap- 
per, Nos. 1 to 6, each $0.35 

Cardboard (fine), 5|^ by 4 inches, to 
be used with the Pictures. Packages 
of 12, $0.10 

Thirteenth Gift. 

Paper for Cutting. Squares of Paper are 

folded, cut according to certain rules, 

and formed into figures. The child's 

inclination for using the scissors is here 

so ingeaiously turned to account as to 

produce very gratifying results. 

Package of 100 squares, white, $0.20 

do. do. colored, $0.20 

do, do. white and colored, mixed, 

$0.20 

Package of 30 sheets, 9 inches square, 

stout, ultramarine paper, for mounting 

the cut figures, $0.50 

Package of 30 sheets of Manilla paper, 

9 inches square, $0.30 

Fourteenth GifT; 




Weaving Paper. Strips of colored paper I 
are, by means of a steei, or wooden ' 
4 



needle of peculiar construction, woven 
into a differeutl)' colored sheet of paper, 
which is cut into strips throughout its 
entire surfa'^e, except a margin at each 
end to keep the strips m their places. 
A very great variety of de>-'igns is thus 
produced, and the inventive powers of 
teacher and i.upil are constantly stimu- 
lated. 

Mats about 7 inches square with slits 
and corresponding strips for weaving, 
slits I inch wide, (No. 11) Package m' 
1 doz,, of various colors, $0.20 

Mats, 7 by 6 inches, slits | inch wide, 
(No. 3) Package of 1 doz., $0.20 

Mats. 7 inches square, slits f inch 
wide, (No, 13) Package of 1 doz., $0.2t> 

Mats, 7 by 6 inches, slits | inch wide, 
(No. 4) Package of 1 doz., $0.20 

Mats, 7 inches square, slits 4 inch 
wide, (No 14) Package of 1 doz., $0.20 

Mats, 7 by 6 inches, slits ^ inch wide, 
(No. 5) Package of 1 doz., $0.20 

Mats, 7 by 6 inches, slits 1-12 inch 
wide. (No. 6) Package of 1 doz., $0.20 

Mats. 7 inches square, with alternate 
wide and narrow slits and corresjiond- 
ing strips, (No 16) Package of 1 doz., 

$0.20 

Mats, like the foregoing — No. 16 — blue 
and white paper only, (No. 17) Package 
of 1 doz., $0.20 

Mats, 7 by 6 inches, with alternate 
wide and narrow slits and corresponding 
strips, (No. 21) Package of 1 doz., $0.20 

Mats, 7 by 6 inches, in which one 
wide slit alternates with two narrow 
ones, with corresponding strips, (No 22) 
Package of 1 doz., $0.20 

Mats, 7 by 6 inches, in which one wide 
slit alternates with three narrow ones, 
with corresponding strips, (No. 26) 
Package of 1 doz., $0.20 

Wrappers to protect the mats from 
creasing when left unfinished in school 
or at home, per doz., $0.60 



Weaving-Needles (wood), short, per 

doz., $0,25 

ditto, long, per doz., $0.30 

Weaving-Needles (steel), per doz., 

$1.20 

Materials for book-marks, strips J inch 

wide, per Package, $0 20 

Materials for do., strips i inch wide, 

per Package, $0.10 



(E. ^l«tgtr, Itifa §otk 



Weaving - Material, Paper, with De- 
signs, in Wrapper, Part A, $0.50 
Weaving-Material, etc., Part B, $0.50 
Twelve Mats and corresponding strips, 
a Needle and Diagrams, No. 1, in Wrap- 
per, $0.45 
No. 2, in Wrapper, $0.45 
No. 3, in Wrapper, $0.45 

Fifteenth Gift. 



Plaiting Material. Fifty Slats (a set), 

10 inches long, for interlacing, to form 

geometrical and fancy figures, $0.35 

Diagrams to same, in Wrapper, $0.25 

Sixteenth Gift. 

Jointed Slats. A Set of Jointed Slats 
with 3, a, 8 and 10 links, Four jointed 
pieces a set. In Box, per Set, $0.60 




A Set of Jointed Slats with 9 linlcs, 
per Set, $0.20 

A Set of Jointed Slats, 10 links, with 
three-foot English rule on one side, and 
French meter rule on the other, $0.20 

Seventeenth Gift. 




Paper for Intertwining. Paper Strips of 
V irious colors, eight or ten inches long, 
folded lengthwise, are used to re- 
present a variety of geometrical as well 



as fancy forms, by plaiting them accoi> 
ding to certain rules. 

Packages of Paper Strips of different 
length and width, containing 100, each 

$0.20 

Eighteenth Gift. 

Paper for Folding. The material for 
Paper-Folding consists of square, rect- 
angular and triangular pieces, with 
which variously shaped objects are 
formed. The variety is endless and 
prepares the pupil for many useful simi- 
lar manualperformances in practical life, 
' 100 leaves, white, 4 in. square, $0.20 
100 leaves, colored, 3^-in. square, $0.20 
100 leaves, colored, 4 by 2 in., $0.15 
100 equilateral Triangles, white, sides 
6 inches long, $0.30 

100 equilateral Triangles,colored, sides 
4 inches long, $0.25 

Nineteenth Gift. 

Peas Work. Peas are soaked in water 
for six or eight hours, and pieces of 
wire, of various lengths, pointed at the 
ends, are stuck into them for the pur- 
pose of imitating real objects and the 
various geometrical figures. Skeletons 
are thus produced, which develop. the 
eye for perspective drawing most suc- 
cessfully. Sticks belonging to the Eighth 
Gift are also used for this purpose. 
Wires of different lengths,per Package; 
$0.20 
Cork Cubes, per Package of 100, $0.25 

Twentieth Gift. 

Modelling. Bees' wax, Clay, Putty or 
• other material, worked with a small 
wooden knife, on a light smooth board, 
is used for the purpose. 



Modelling Knives, of wood, each $0.10 

ditto, larger and better kind, each $0.20 

Modelling Boards, of wood, each $0.12 



j6®=- Customers will please bear in mind that the method of describing- Kindergarten Gifts," 
&c. ill this Catalogue is that adopted in America, which differs considerably from the one used 
in Germany, and England It is very important to remember this when ordering the Gifts, &c. , 
Only the first six Gifts are used in a strictly serial order, the Planes, Sticks, Weaving and Em- 
broidering materials being introduced at the same time as the Third Gift, so that the work of 
no two or three consecutive days need be alike. 

The designation by numbers (No.) of various articles is entirely arbitrary, and is done solely; 
for the purpose of enabling customers to order the exact kinds they desire to receive. 

Requests to take backer exchange goods' sent in conformity with orders, must be declined 



4. mti^tt, f tfa fork. 




- The List on the foregoing pages comprises only part of 
my Stock of Kindergarten Gifts, Occupation 
Material, etc, (for an exhibition of which, at the Fair of 
the American Institute in New York, November IS^TSj 
Diploma was awarded). 

A very large assortment of kindred articles is on hanc 
^nd additions are being incessantly made, both by importation 
from Europe and by domestic manufacture, so as to render mine 
the most complete and extensive Repository of the 
kind in America. 

To meet the growing demand, I propose to offer, at a 
concession from regular prices, Selections — more or less 
50mplete — of Kindergarten Gifts and Occupation 
Material, as required for a smaller number of children. 
As such I now offer: 

Stei^er's 

Kindergarten Chest ISTo. 1. 

A Set of Kindergarten Gifts and Oc9upation Material, suitable for the 
use in Families. In Wooden Box. Price $12.00. 

Contents: 
FiEST Gift. 
Second Gift. 

Third Gift with Diagrams. 
FouETH Gift with Diagrams, 
Fifth Gift with Diagrams. 
Sixth Gitt with Diagrams. 

Seventh Gift: 3 boxes of triangular tablets (G.H.I.) with Diagrams to each. 
Eighth Gift with Diagrams. 
Ninth Gift with Diagrams. 
1 Slate and 6 Pencils. 
2. Dozen Designs for Perforating and Embroidering, 2 Packages Cardboard 

and 2 Perforating Needles. 

1 Package of Paper for Cutting and Folding. 

2 Packages of Weaving Mats and Strips, and 6 Weaving Needles and 

Diagrams. 
I Package of Slats for Interlacing, with Diagrams. 
Corks and Wires, 1 Package of each, with Diagrams. 
1 Modelling Knife, and 

1 A. Douai. The Kindergarten. With 16 Plates. Second edition. Cloth. 
Note. No request for a departure from this selection can be entertained, when the 
• reduced _pri«e for the whole is claimed. 



®. ^lergwr, ^tia ^ork. 



kindergarten ]pu6Kcation§. 

J. F. Borschitzky. 'Kindergarten-Lieder, with German and English Words. 
Containing the 32 Songs in Konge's Guide. Arranged with an Accom- 
paniment of a Second Voice, and Pianoforte Guidance (ad lib.)- $2.80 

■J. F. Borschitzky. New Kindergarten Songs: The Vessel. — The Snail.— 
Gymnastic Song. — The Miller. With words in English and German. $0. 50 

N". A. Calkins. Primary Object-Lessons for training the senses and de- 
veloping the faculties of children. A Manual of Elementary Instructions 
for parents and teachers. With 1 colored plate. Cloth. $1.50 

A. Douai. The Kindergarten. A Manual for the Introduction of Fbcebeii's 
System of Primary Education into Public Schools and for the use of 
Mothers and Private Teachers. With 16 plates and Music for the plays 
and songs. Cloth. $1.00 

(The text of most of the songs and poetry is in both English and German. ) 

Earl Froebel. Elements of Designing on the Developing System, for Ele- 
mentary School Classes and for Families. 4 Parts. each $0.35 

Goldammer-Reffelt. Die Mnordnung des Kindergartens in das Schid- 
wesen der Gemeinde. Nach H. Goldammeb mit Eiicksicht auf ameri- 
kanische Verhaltnisse dargestellt von Heem. Keffelt. $0. 15 

W. N. Hailman. Kindergarten Culture in the Family and Kindergarten: 

a complete Sketch of Fecebel's System of Early Education, adapted to 

American Institutions. For the use of Mothers and Teachers. lUus- 

. trated. Cloth. - $0.75 

A. B. Hanschmann. Das System des Kindergartens nach Fi-oebd. Fiir 
Miitter und Kinder gartnerinnen. Illustrated. $0. 15 

H. Hoffmann. Kindergarten Toys, and how to use them. A practical expla- 
nation of the First Six Gifts of Fecebel's Kindergarten. Illustrated. $0.20 

Dsr Kindergarten in Amerika. Entstehung, Wesen, Bedeutung und Erzie^ 
hungsmittel des FBOEBEL'schen Systems, und seine Anwendung auf hie- 
sige Verhaltnisse. Fur Eltern, Lehrer und Kinderfreunde kurz darge- 
stellt. $0.15 

Au^. Koliler. Die neue Erziehung. Grundziige der padagogischen Ideen 
FBQBBEii's, und deren Anwendung in Familie, Kindergarten imd Schul©. 

$0.15 

Mrs. Matilda H. Kriege. The Child, its Nature and Relations: an Eluci- 
dation of Fecebel's Principles of Education. A free rendering of the 
German of the Baroness Maeenholtz-Bolow. Illustrated. Second 
edition, printed on heavy tinted paper, tastefully boxmd in bevelled 
cloth, gilt top. $1.00 

Mrs. H. Mann and Elizabeth P. Peabody. Moral Culture of Infancy 
and Kindergarten Guide. With Music for the Plays. Cloth. $1. 25 

Miss Henrietta Noa. Plays for the Kindergarten. Music by Ch. J, 
Richtee. (The text of the 19 plays is in both English and Grerman.) $0.30 

Joseph Payne. Froebd and the Kindergarten System of Elementary Educd- 
tion. ' ' $0.15 



(B. ^tn%tt, febj f orK. 



-Elizabeth P. Peabody. Lectures on the Nursery and Kindergarten. No. 1. 
Education of the Kinder gartner. $0.25 

Plays and Songs for Kindergarten and Family. Collected and revised by a 
Kindergartner. $0. 75 

Johannes and Bertha Ronge. A practical Guide to the English Kinder- 
garten, for the use of Mothers, Governesses, and Infant Teachers, being 
an exposition of Fkcebel's System of Infant Training, accompanied by ^ 
a great variety of Instructive and Amusing Games, and Industrial an^ ' 
Gymnastic Exercises. With ntimerous songs, set to Music and arranged 
for the Exercises. With 71 lithographic plates. Cloth. $2.10 

Edward Wiebe. The Paradise of Childhood, A Manual for InstruCtioQ 
in Feiedeich Fe(ebel's Educational Principles, and a Practical Guide; 
to Kindergartners. In 4 Parts, complete. $3.0i 

This book contains 76 large double column 4to pages of text, and 7 
full page plates. The Engravings are from German plates that have 
been carefully revised and corrected by Prof. Wiebe. The work is for 
the use of Teachers and Mothers. 

KiNDEEGAETEN Tbacts fumished gratis for judicious distribution: 
A Day in the Kindergarten of Fraulein Held, at Nashua, N. H. 
Frasbel and the Kindergarten System. 
Kindergarten. (From the iV. Y. Weekly Tribune.) 
Was ist ein Kindergarten ? Kurze Darstellung des Fraeiel'schen Systems. 
Was ist aer Zweck der Kindergarten-Erziehung ? 
Wliat I thinh of Kindergartens. (From the He>ald of Health.) 
What is a Kindergarten? or Frosbel's System of Education briefly explained. 
What is the Purposeof Kindergarten Education ? 

Information given to parents and others concerning the best Kinder- 
gartens and Kindergarten Normal Institutions iu America. 

Competent Kindergarteners named who are open to an engagement. 



il 



A. DOIJAI'S SERIES OF Rational Readers, 

combining the Principles of Pestalozzi's and Fkcebel's Systems of Edu. 
cation. With a systematic classification of English words, by which their 
Pronunciation, Orthography and Etymology may be taught readily without 
the use of any new signs. By Dr. A. Douai. 

I. Introductory. - The Rational Phonetic Primer. Boards. $0. 20 

II. The Rational First Reader. Boards. $0.30 

III. The Rational Second Reader. Boards. $0. 50 

IV. The Rational Third Reader. Boards. $0.80 
V. A Eeeoem of the Common English Beanchbs oe Instetjction. 

Manual for Teachers: An Introduction to the Series of Rational Eeaders. 
Containing useful hints about the Teaching of Grammar, Elocution, and 
Object-Lessons, etc. Boards. $0.30 

E. Steiger, 22 & 24 Frankfort Street, JVetV York. 



i^inclergartciwiZitcratur. 



©mP JBortf). 2?ilber au§ h'lii .Viintcvgavtcn fur 1 
a)i fitter iinb Srjielicriiiiu'n. V.nit .ipoljicljmttcn. 

1.50 

SBilftcr -guft fiir .fflnter. Qmn Sclfcftnnfcrtigen 
ciive^ 3?tlJicrLnid)e^. 2.50 

<g. SBtrdjcr. 3iujoiit=, Iurn= iiiifa O^'fcUfdiaftS; 
fpielc fi'tr >Jintev{(avtcu, Sunuiuitalteii uncC5ie= 
fcUiAaftcn. liaitcnnirt 0.45 

§cnricttc iBrcijmnnn. T'ie O'vimbjiicje bev 
Jibcon 5 V t e b r i d) g- v 5 b c I 'i?, ciugcwenret 
an} stinberjjartcii unb jiinci'i-ftubc. O.o5 

^o\. SBiiljlmnnu. 5v r i c d r i d; ,v v o b c 1 unb bcr 
Stinbervjiirtcu, furj bav>itftcUt luul) foiiicr (Snt= 
ftcljunj, Jeiiiem 'Jlicji'ii, icmcr <c'ccutuii9 "• 
\. m. 0.35 

^. Tciiiflnvlit Hnb(S()r. CilBJJ. SoS ©tabd)cn= 
Icsieu unb bic (S-i'bfcnarbciti'n tin "ocltsidiuliui; 
teirvidu. 'Jllg cine OH'untlacic be>o ^f'fl'iii-'i^^i 
be6 i)ied)ncnS unb bcr cscLMiicirijclicn Jornu'ii: 
leljre. 93ht 40 ltt(}03vap[)iitcn -3:afc!n. 1.00 

6. 'Jiiriiifl. 62 epiele fur ftnabcu unb DJiab; 
^cn jum 6iebvciud)e bet <£dnil= unf .ViinCer= 
feftcn, Spajicvflangen unb Quveren fcftltd)cn 
@elCv3enf)eUeu. 0.25 

^te erfte C5:rjtci;uuo burd) bte SDiutternad) jv b r. 
5 r b b e I § '^ 0>)vuucfa^eu. iDiit ^"'Olsidinitten 
unb 4 Safcln. u.4o 

3i- §. Don 5'rfl'f • "Si^ nad)ften Sfufgabcn fiiv 
bie "JJationcilovjicbunj ccr OH'geinvavt in 'iicji;;) 

■ auf 5 r b r. g- r b b e To lvv;icl}uni)'oi>iftcui. Lime 
tvitijd)=pabai5eiiifdie Stubic. 0.35 

9t. S. jViftllfr- '.'(nrcijumj jur Grriditnuci einc3 
aSilbunsj'icurfuS fiir Ok'ljiufinucn an i^imabv- 
anftaltcn, i^onuen uni? Sinccrmacrtien. 0.25 

"Ser s^inbcrciavtcu. 3:bccretiidi:prattifdicj 

§anbbudj. i'cit 2 ^^cljfdjnttteu unb lo Utl)c= 
gi'apljtvtcn lafcln. 1.50 

S- l^dlfiiio. ®ic 9)cen)c^encr5ict)unc(, obev bic 
naturgema^e (Svjtet^iing unD is-ntwtc£elung bcr 
ftinbl^eit tn ben crften ^Jcbenejaliren. (Jin t'uA) 
fiir bag g-ainilien= unb HteinHnbcrfdjuUebcn. 

1.25 

®efc^i^ten fiir .Qinber; gKiittcrn, (>iefc^u)i= 

ftern, Srjiefteru unbiSrjie^erinnen bargcbrvid)t. 

(SartDnuivt 0.70 

grbr. iJroOr!. ©efcimmelte pabagcgtfc^c ©d)rif- 
ten. ijcvauggegeben von aSid). Snngc. 
2 23anbe in 3 i'lbtl)eilungen $10.05, gebunben 
in §albmovccco 13.35 

1. S?onb. 1. atbt^eilung: 3tuS g- r c 6 e I '§ 
Sfbcn unb ernftem Streben. Siutobicgrapliie 
unb Heinere ©i^rtftcn. 4'iit grbbol's Iit()o=: 
gmpfiirtem ^portrait. $2.95, gcbunben in§alb= 
morocco .4.05 

1. 9?anb. 2. 9tbt^eitung:3been grbr. 5rii= 
6 el '8 iifjcr bic aj^enfdjencvjie^ung unb 3iuf* 
fafee perf(^iebcnen 3nl)aItS. 9Jat ,' ®teintafeln. 
3.35; gebunben in ijalbmcrocco 4.45 

2. 33anb: IJicJljabagogit bc§ftinbevgarten6. 
©cbanfen grbr. grbbet'g iiber ba§ ©piel 
unb bie Spiclgcgenftonbe beS .tinbeS. Sffiit 
2 9J2ufi£6ciIagen unb 16 ©teintafeln. $3.75, ge= 
bunben in ^albmorocco 4.85 

1 



Srtr. (^rbbci. 9J;iittcr= unbfiofe::$'icbcr. 1)ic6= 
tung unr i^ilcor jureclcn '|5flev3c ccg .s;inbl)eiig; 
Icbcng. tS:in gHimilicnbiici). OJitt yicinbjcid); 
nungcn in sUipfevfiid), crtliircnrein Scjte uuD 
&iuaiueifen. Quarto. i)Jiit Jiicl in .siupfer^ 
fttd) iinb 35 £eiten ilictcn. (Sartcnnivt 4.70 

5rSr. orolitl's Wiiiaerflortcn. (Sine SScibnfidits; 
gabe fur gcbilbete !c. g-raneu. (icivtonniri O.od 

Sic 3riil!c('ir()ctfr3tcluiiB5tnetljoic. Gine 3"=' 
fanuncufteltung pereinseiter ajtittl^eilungcu unb 
93cvid)te. 'Jiebft eincm siinberlicbe mit iiiaoicr- 
begleitung. 0.65 

^ort griilcl. 3<^W)C"W"'s- S'i'r ben Unters 
ridit tm Srnbcrgartcn, in tcr ganiilie unb bcr 
gdjule. 4 J&efU'. fid 0-35 

^. (flnfhnmmrr. Uctcv 23cgriinbung, (?inrtd)= 
tung unr iienvaltung pon uincergavton. iVtit 
2 I'itbegrapbicn. 0.35 

Uebcr g- v i e b r i d) g r o b c I 'g (Si-jier^unggs 

iccifc. iantvag. 0.35 

Ucbcr gvicbvtdj g-rbbcI'S aBeItan= 

fdiauung. iJertvag. . 0.35 

Tcv Siubi'vgaucn. $anbbud)ber g-rb b el'= 

friien (yv,5icbungsnictl)L'bc, 2:piclgabcn unb 33c; 
fd)afiigungen. 2. Sluflage. 9J2it SOSafetn 3lb= 
bilDungen. 3.35 

fflo(bamnicr=9}cffclt. iJie (Sinoibnung beS siina 
bcrgartcng in bag ©diutrecfcn tcr (iicmcinbe, 
9ccid) i>. (s^ t b a m m c r mit fliiidfid}! iiuf nuie: 
ritaniidie Serf^oUnifjc bargcftellt pou ijcrni, 
9i c f f c 1 1. O.U 

^nl. ©tOvnrp.r.n. 1)a8 g-robel'fc^e (Si-jie : 
bungofpftcni auf ber ^afie uiatl^emafifdjc,; 
(jH'untfornicn. 0.2j 

;Joi. (Sriibc^-. I^ic ^abagogif beg StinbergartenS 
unb bcr aScavil^vanftalt. 5)Jiit I6 3;afeln. 9ieue 
aiuegabe 0.85 

2t)ctln ti. (Sumpcrt. 9JJuttcr Stnne unb il)r 
(5H'ctd)Cu. (Sin aSud) fiirslinber pon 4— s3af)= 
rcn unb fiiv bcven SJJiittcr. Siudi juni ajorlefcn 
in Mlcintinbcvfdjulcn unb . a3eipaf>ranftaltcn. 
attit 6 litl;Dgrapl)irten unb cotcrirtcnSBiicern in 
ijonbi'uct. 1.15 

SI. SBr. ^cnirtjntttnn. g-riebridi grobei. CDie 
Gutipidelung feinev (S-vjicbunggibce in fcinem 
Ccben. 9iad) aut()entifd)cn Ouetten bargcftellt. 

2.95 

®ag Snftcm beS Slinbergarteng naii fr r o= 

be J. giiv' 9JJiitter uni.Sinbergflrtnerrv.inci;. 
SDJit Sltuftrationcn. 0.15 

^. §orbtcr. ®ie (S.lemente beg 3et<I)i'fn§ (Sine 
Samnilung Pen SJorlagen auf 32 Seiten 0.2.j 

Souife f»frtlein. 30 fflallfpiele. (Sine ?lnU>itung 
sum Sallfpielen mit Jlinbcvn pon 2—6 Sabren 
fammt 30 Ciebi^en -jur a3egleitung ber Spiele. 
i^earbeitet unb mit einem ajoriport beglcitet. 

0.65 

9(«B. .^odtnonn. aSortrag fiber grbbel'ii^e Sin= 
bergavten, t^re er5iel;li<|e unb fittIidj=religtDie 
a3ebeutung. 0.25 



€. Stciijcr, Hero •j|or6. 



®. Sfeinarfcr. griebrtrf) grobel unb tcv 
aSoltSttuScvvjarteii. iiDrtvac). 0.15 

23ilcev, ^itut-ien iinf sUange au§ bem 33c5 

veic^c be^ ©Itcnihciui'eS ittiD fiinbergartt'iiS, tcv 
ger)r= unb aioUsi'dHiIo; nacft gr b r. g x' b b c V- 
fcfjen 6irunbfal3cn. 1.25 

g. StieDrtli. Sltlcvlct i)etmU(^feitcn auS bcv Sin= 
tcrftubc. Sitber aus^ ten erftcti 8et)engja[)vcn. 

O.Sa 

2oit(e .fifb)ut9'§ ®efcf)ic^ten fiir Heine Sinbor. 
gin iiud) fur cr;at)lenbe9JUittci-, Jlin^e^^3artno = 
rinnon unb ficine Sefer. DJcito bunion 'iSilbevn 
wn 2. S h a 1 f; e iiti. (Scbnnfcn. 1.25 

3;nijtc yaiiijcu'S SSRiircbengartcn. Sin 2.Micf)Ietn 
fiir SJhitter unb STinDcrgartncvinncn, avtigon 
Sliuborn bcn 4—7 ^'a&vcn tarau^ uorjulcu'n 
unb 5u er5at)Ien. SJcit ctnent ffiortuort uon S. 
SDt rg e nftcrn unb litr^cgrapfrtrtcn unb co= 
lorirtcn SSilbern. SavtDuuirt 0.9.5 

g. C'. aBogiicr. -^eidjnenblattcfien jur ©eI6[tbe= 

fc[;aftigung fiiv Si:intcv. 1.— o. ijeft. Ciuarto. 

@ 0.25 

Sfluife 3Ce!ircnpfcnntg=ficrtIc-tu. Sonimt, Iciiit 
uus ben Ji inborn Icjon ! Stij^en iibev iBcibliclie 
(Svjicr^ung unD g x b r. g v 6 b e I 'g ©vjictjungSs 
3cee. o'.S5 

,3- SBcHaiirr. Ueber Silctnfinbererjie^ung. dilit 
bcfcnberer SBeritctfid^tiguncj auf bie (yrobel'; 
fdjen tinbevgartoa unb i^ve SimBonbung im 
St. @atten'frf)en SBaijen^aufe. (Sine Scnfc^ 
renjarbcit. 0..S5 

Sr. aSctjrotuii!. aSer Ijiift bev DJJutter tijve erjiob; 
lid)e aiufgabe l&fcn ? SSiex" ajortragc. 0.35 

®b. aCiciir. aSeJcn unb 2Btv£fniiifeit beg Sinbev= 
gai'tenS. 0.25 

{Jr. aBtc&cmoitn. Saufenb gigurca. ^eic[)eni 
fdjule fill' bie fi'Ieuicn. Siuf aiojjiininen cnt= 
reorfcn unb ftufoniucife geovbnct. giir 3d)«lc, 
tinbergni'tcn unb ijauS 0.85 

®. SBiciicmnun. Einbergarten, ein aSebiirfni^ 
ber ©egenaiavt. 0.25 

®. aCific. 3wct none a}eranf(^ault^unggappa= 
raie 5unt elomeuiavcn 9ied)nen: 1 ba§3'it)'cn= 
bi!bor=Dlcd)engeftcU unb 2. bex 3iiWenbilbcr= 
9£ed;enJaftcn. 0.55 

SlfliicS aeinfel. ®a6 Sieberbui^ ber SOnutcr. 
Jlinberliebcr gum (Scbraud; tm §aufe, im Stiu= 
b'ergarten unb in ber JTletntinberfdjuIe. @efcim= 
melt unb mit kidjter Stacierbegteitung vev- 
ier)cn, ^ 0.70 

*f. Sfiititcrntif. Scfefpiet fiir Heine Sinber bcn 
4 — 6 3(i[)ron, wobuvd) bicfolbon el)ne eigontIi= 
d)cn Umerrid)t in cntiprcd;cnb tur;cr ^cit lofcn 

. ternen. fflJit 100 Marten, ©cbuuben 1.00 

9Jcd)nenfpiel fiir iloinc fitnbor von 5—7 

3ar)ren, burd) »eId)C'3 bicjolbon obnc oigentli= 
(i)cn Unterrid)t in cntfprcd)cnb furjcr jcit nut= 
tolft ber erfton 4 9fC"_');uing-oartou Iciriit unb auf 
angcnct)me aBcifc rcc^non Icrncn. 9Jiit 50 Siar= 
ten ajerlegetafcln. ©ebunjon l.OJ 

— — ©d)rcibfuict furflcinc fiinbcriicn .5 — 7 ",at)= 
ron, burd) weldica bioiolbcn ofnie eiv3CnUidicn 
ltntorrtd;t in cniiprodienb furjer ^f't'idjrcijen 
unb li^cfdjricbencs tofcn loruen. idlit lOO Jtar; 
ten. 2.50 

Srurnfpiel fiir Stinber uon 5—10 3af)ron. 

SDiit 33 gigurcn'Sarten. 1.00 



f. SBifeiicber. StuSroal)! luni i'icccvu uut Spio: 
ten ous bem Sinbergarten Cer tDtufitbtlDungo: 
fd)ule in Sraunfc^weig. u.'.i 



A. Douai. The Kindergarten. A Manual for , 
tlie introduction of Froebel's System of 
Primary Education into Public Schools ; 
and for the use of Mothers and Private 
Teachers. Wd 13 litijograp^irten itafeln. 
(ScbuuDon m Jeinmanb. i.oo 

Ter Scjt ber .ttinberlieber.ift in beutidjet 
unb cnglifdjer £prad)e. 

W. N. Hailman. Kindergarten Culture intlie 
Fami.'y and Kindergarten: A complete 
Sltetch of Fkcebel's System of Early Edu- 
cation, adapted to American Institutions. 
For the use of Mothers and Teachers. 
ajJit SUuftrationcn. @ebn. in Seiniranb 0.75 

H. Hoffmann. Kindergarten Toys, and how 
to use tliem. A ijractical exislanation of the 
First Six Gifts of Fkcebel's Kindergarten. 
9]tit 3it»l'trattoncn. 0.20 

Matilda H. Kriege. Tlie Child, its Nature awt 
Relations. An Elucidation of Fkcebel's 
Princix^les of Education. A free rendering 
of the German of the Baroness Maken- 
HOLTZ-BuELow. 9luf Sonpapior, elegant in 
Seinroanb gebunben. 1.00 

Mrs. H. Mann and Eliz. P. Peabody. Moral 
Culture of Infancy and Kindergarten Guide. 
with Music for the Plays. 3" ''^einninnc 
gebunoen. 1.25 

Henrittti Noa. Plays for the Kindergarten. 
Music by Ch. J. Kichter. ■ 0.30 

®er Jcjt ber U ©pielliecer ift in beutfdK'r 
unb englifdjev ©pradjc. 

Joseph Payne. Fra>hel and the Kindergarten 
System of Elementary Jiducation. 0.15 

Elizabeth P. Pe-.body. Lectures on the i\ur- 
sery and Kinde.-garlen. No. 1. Education 
of tlie Kindergartner. 0.25 

Johannes and Bertha Ron^e. A practical 
Guide to the English Kindergarten, for tbc^ 
use of Mothers, Governesses and Infant 
Teachers, being an exposition of Fkce- 
bel's System of Infant Training, accom- 
panied bj' a great variety of Instructive 
and Amusing Games, and Industrial and 
Gymnastic Exercises. fOJit 71 Slblntbungeij. 
3n Seiniuaub gebunben. 2.10 

Ed. Wiebe. The Paradise of Childhood. A 
Manual for Instruction in Friedrich 
Frcebel'!3 Educational Principles, and a 
Practical Guide to Kindergartners. Wit 
74 Slbbitbungcn. Q,uart;gormat. 3.00 



®ic f otgenben gtugfdjriften merben g r a t i c- 

gelicfert: 

Froihel and tlie Kindergarten System. 

aSag ift ein SintH'rgartcn ? Surje Sarfteltung bc-S 
grobel'fdion eiiftemg. 

aSaS ift ber 3uH'd rer itmbergartenjgrjic'^mtg '? 

What is a Kindergarten ? or Frcebel's System, 
of Education briefly explained. 

W/tat is the Purpose of Kindergarten Educa- 
tion ? 



IMPORTANT CHANCES. 



MHS. KRAUS'BOELTE 

iiud Professor John Kraus, formerly at No. 7 Granier^^ Park, con- 
tinue their Kinclergarteu and Inter mediate Class, Training Class ■for 
Teachers, and Mother's Class, at 1266 and 1268 Broad vvaj^, New 
York, between 32d and 33d Streets. 

MISS EMMA MARlVEDELj 

800 Eighteenth Street, Washington, 1). C, re-opened her school 
of Industrial Arts, founded on the Kindergarten, September 21, 
with the same successful Kindergartuerin, Miss Susie Pollock, 
and teachers of several otlier brunches. 

Fraulein Thkrese Lochner, having decided to have her own 
Training Class exclusively in German, Miss Marwedel has engaged 
a personal student with Proebel, who has had much experience in 
training, to supply her place, and teach in English, Professor E. F. 
H. HiEHLE. The Training Class opened Nov. 30. 

EDIVARD A. SPRING 

Will be at 98 Chestnut Street, only till February 1, to give 
lessons in Elementary Modelling. Terms: — for Teachers, ^3 a 
lesson; for others, $5 a lesson. Address, Boston Post Office. 



s mi 



ui linLniiu u I iiiLuuuMiiunL viuiii\ui^ 

ESSAY ON LANGUAGE, 2d edition. With other papers, one being on the 

PliilosophicMl Genius of Kev. W. E. Ghanning, D. L>. Published in Boston, 

1857. by Phillips, Sampson, & Co. 
FREEDOM OF MIND IN WILLING; or, Every Being who Wills a Creative 

First Cause. New York: Appleton & Co. 1864. 
TWO LETTERS ON CAUSATION, addressed to John Stuart Mill. With an 

Appendix on the Existence of Matter and our Notions of Infinite Space. 

Boston: Lee & Shepard. 1869. 
In 1868 Scribner published two works on practical subjects : " Our Resources," and 

"Finance and the Hours of Labor." 

We would crtll attention to Mrs. WARD'S Kindergarten, in Salera, 
Mass.; and Mrs. ALICE T. TOOM'i'S, corner of California and 
Gough Streets, San Francisco; and Miss SARA EDDY'S, at 51 
Sheldon Street, west side, Chicago. 

ENaLISH SUBSCRIBERS 

Can pay by sending post-office money orders directed to Miss Snell, 17 Straw- 
berry Bank, Strawberry Road, Pendleton, in Manchester, England. 
She will also take names of new subscribers. frive, Jfivc SJiiUiiif/s. 

TO SUBSCRIBERS. 

^^"If any have missed numbers hitherto, please make it known; 
and will all who have not paid for 1874, pay now, with twelve cents 
for postage. 



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